Is Satoshi in Legal Trouble? $83.7 Billion Worth of BTC Might Be 'Legally Claimed'
An anonymous plaintiff, “Noah Doe,” and two shell companies have filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court, seeking a declaratory judgment granting them ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses containing approximately 3.8 million BTC (worth ~$293.5 billion). Their claim is based on New York’s lost property law, arguing these addresses are abandoned assets. The plaintiff “found” the addresses, stored them on a USB drive, and delivered it to a police station, followed by chain notifications (OP_RETURN) and a press release.
Notably, the list includes addresses linked to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto (holding ~1.1 million BTC), a Mt. Gox hacker address, a provably unspendable burn address, and other long-inactive wallets. The plaintiff’s “independent expert” controversially values each address at under $10 to invoke a fast-track legal process.
Critical issues question the lawsuit's validity: the lost property law is designed for physical items, not publicly viewable blockchain addresses; the valuation is implausible; and the plaintiff’s anonymity is contested. Even if successful, the plaintiff would only receive a paper judgment, not the private keys. However, such a ruling could create a “title defect,” allowing them to challenge future transactions of these coins on regulated platforms, potentially freezing assets and forcing anonymous holders to reveal themselves in legal disputes. The court is unlikely to grant a broad default judgment given the novel and high-stakes nature of the claim.
Odaily星球日报06/01 08:10
