Digital Chamber challenges lawsuit over 39,069 Bitcoin wallets

• The Digital Chamber has urged a New York court to dismiss a lawsuit seeking ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets.
• The industry group argued that treating inactive self-custody wallets as abandoned property could undermine digital asset ownership rights.
• The case could influence how dormant cryptocurrency holdings are treated under US lost-property laws.

The Digital Chamber filed an amicus brief urging a New York court to dismiss a lawsuit seeking ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) wallet addresses, arguing the claims could undermine self-custody rights.

The lawsuit, filed in May by "Noah Doe" and two Wyoming companies, seeks ownership of wallet addresses holding an estimated 3.7 million Bitcoin worth about US$234 billion under New York's lost-property law.

The Digital Chamber argued that recognising dormant wallets as abandoned property would create uncertainty over ownership of self-custodied digital assets and could have wider implications for traditional financial markets.

The case remains before the court, and no market reaction accompanied the filing because it relates to a legal dispute rather than a listed company announcement.

Some wallets named in the lawsuit have become active, with 31 listed addresses transferring 17,527 Bitcoin during June, while one wallet moved 30 Bitcoin for the first time since August 2011.

A pseudonymous defendant has also filed a motion to dismiss, claiming control of one of the dormant wallet addresses, while the case continues to test how inactive cryptocurrency assets may be treated under state law.

At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $63,666.31.