A New York court has paused a legal bid to seize 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets valued at approximately $293 billion after early “Satoshi-era” coins began moving on-chain. The stay in proceedings follows an amicus brief filed by attorney Ian R. Cohen, which challenges the theory that these long-inactive assets were abandoned property.
- Legal Stay: A New York Supreme Court judge froze proceedings in Index No. 153119/2026 on June 5.
- Asset Scale: The case targets nearly 40,000 wallets holding an estimated 3.8 million BTC.
- On-Chain Evidence: Multiple wallets dormant since 2011 have recently transferred funds, contradicting claims that the coins are lost.
The Legal Fight Over ‘Lost’ Bitcoin
The litigation, styled as ABC Company, XYZ Company, and Noah Doe v. John Does 1-39,069, sought a default judgment to seize assets based on a lost-property theory. However, the legal momentum shifted after Ian R. Cohen filed an amicus brief on May 29, leading the court to halt the process.
A forthcoming hearing will determine if the lost-property theory remains valid. The stakes are among the highest in cryptocurrency legal history, with some reports valuing the targeted holdings at $285 billion and others estimating the total at roughly $293 billion.
Awakening of Satoshi-Era Wallets
The court’s decision coincides with a surge in activity from addresses that had been silent for over a decade. On June 6, 2026, Galaxy Research identified a transaction involving 47.26 BTC—worth approximately $2.88 million—moving from a wallet that had not seen activity since June 17, 2011. This specific address, 18sLgPeB9wQVrE8JoWqtKtnucbsx3Lw1m7, is explicitly listed as defendant address No. 37923 in the New York case.
Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy, highlighted the significance of these movements on X:
“More 2011 coins that were claimed as ‘lost’ in the ‘noah doe’ NY state lost-and-found case are awakening and moving onchain.”
This was not an isolated event. Other notable movements include:
- A transfer of 25 BTC originating from a Casascius coin redemption, identified at block height 952534.
- A separate wallet, dormant since March 2011, which moved 35 BTC on June 2.
Technical Implications of Wallet Dormancy
In the context of blockchain technology, “dormant” wallets are addresses that have not initiated a transaction for a significant period. Because Bitcoin utilizes a public ledger, researchers can track exactly when a coin was last moved. The movement of these 2011-era coins provides empirical evidence that the private keys—the cryptographic passwords required to authorize transactions—are still held by the owners.
This technical reality directly undermines the legal argument that the assets are abandoned. If the owners can still move the funds, the property is not “lost” in a way that would justify a court-ordered seizure under lost-property statutes.
