Pseudonymous ‘Noah Doe’ sues for US$285b in dormant bitcoin
A plaintiff using the alias “Noah Doe” has filed a 901‑page lawsuit in New York Supreme Court seeking rights to around 3.7 million dormant bitcoin, worth roughly US$285 billion, spread across 39,069 wallets including some linked to Satoshi Nakamoto and the Mt. Gox hacker.
Doe argues under lost‑property law that the long‑inactive wallets should be treated as legally abandoned, claiming he sent on‑chain notices, alerted police and transferred his asserted interest into Wyoming entities and a trust before filing.
Because the Bitcoin network does not respond to court orders and coins cannot move without private keys, legal experts say any ruling would only matter if those funds ever hit regulated exchanges, but the case could still set an important precedent for how US courts view dormant crypto assets.
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