The Digital Chamber, a blockchain association, filed an amicus brief with the New York State Supreme Court, requesting the dismissal of a lawsuit concerning rights to inactive Bitcoin wallets. The organization warned that classifying such addresses as abandoned property could pose risks to the self-custody of digital assets.
According to the documents, the Digital Chamber represents over 250 market participants, including cryptocurrency exchanges, banks, investment firms, and other organizations. The association argues that if the court agrees with the plaintiffs' theory, the long-term holding and lack of transactions could be interpreted as a sign of abandonment of ownership.
"The plaintiffs are claiming ownership rights to hundreds of billions of dollars in digital assets simply because these assets have not been moved or spent," the brief states.
The Digital Chamber emphasized that the plaintiffs did not create these addresses, do not control them, and do not possess the private keys. Association representatives stated that granting the claims would create a "cloud of uncertainty" that could impact not only the crypto industry but also traditional financial markets.
How the Plaintiffs Justified Their Claims
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Noah Doe and two Wyoming-registered companies, ABC Company and XYZ Company. They considered the coins associated with the addresses as abandoned property and requested to transfer ownership rights to them.
According to the Digital Chamber, in 2024, Noah Doe developed an algorithm to identify inactive Bitcoin wallets. Using this algorithm, he identified 42,001 addresses, recorded the blockchain's public data onto USB drives, submitted them to the 17th precinct of the New York Police Department, and received property receipts. The plaintiffs present these actions as a "discovery."
However, the association disputes this logic:
"What he 'found' were not the wallets themselves, but electronic records of the digital wallet addresses — that is, public keys."
Subsequently, according to case materials, the plaintiffs sent messages to the addresses via OP_RETURN. The notifications gave owners 90 days, until October 10, 2025, to demonstrate wallet activity. Ultimately, the complainants excluded 2,932 addresses from the 42,001, including 424 wallets whose owners had conducted on-chain activities. The remaining 39,069 addresses were labeled as abandoned.
Private Keys and Ownership
Even if the plaintiffs win, there remains the issue of gaining control over the coins without the private keys. The Digital Chamber emphasized that access to the assets remains with the owners.
"The claim sought by the plaintiffs would provide a paper title of ownership that is not connected to possession or access to the property it allegedly conveys," the brief states.
The first amicus curiae in the case was filed in May by Bitcoin lawyer Ian Cohen, who also requested the dismissal of the lawsuit, noting that the law on found property pertains to physical objects, not results from scanning a public blockchain. He argued that if such assets were indeed considered abandoned property, the law would require transferring them to the state, not to a private individual.
In June, the pseudonymous defendant John Doe 33 filed a motion to dismiss the claims in the case, asserting control over one of the addresses on the list. He argued that the lawsuit targets blockchain address strings, which are not legal entities and cannot be defendants in court. He also believes the complainants are attempting to claim their own USB drives with public data as found property.
According to Galaxy's head of research, Alex Thorn, John Doe 33 is linked to a wallet containing 5,000 BTC. The coins were deposited there in April 2014 and have not been moved for over 12 years. Thorn estimated the balance to be around $300 million.
Inactive Addresses Start Moving
According to Thorn, in June 2026, 31 addresses from the list transferred 17,527 BTC. In comparison, in February, five addresses moved a total of 4,834 BTC.
— Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) July 5, 2026
On July 5, the address 1KV47 transferred 30 BTC, valued at approximately $1.88 million. This marked the first movement from the address in nearly 15 years — since August 2011.
🌚 Awakened — dormant 14+ years
30.00 BTC ($1.88M) untouched since first received 2011-08-07 (14.9y ago) — just moved in block 956627Address: 1KV47ho8CG2vcTtBQwkfNCgzUVBuBeZkLG
Attribution: Noah Doe #38530 · Salomon Client Dusted💰 Realized PnL: +$1.84M (+719,353% gain) -…
— Galaxy Research (@glxyresearch) July 4, 2026
According to court documents, approximately 3.799 million BTC are held across the 39,069 inactive addresses. The list includes addresses publicly linked to Satoshi Nakamoto, as well as the address 1Feex, associated with the Mt. Gox hack. The identity of the individual controlling the private key for 1Feex remains unknown.
It is worth noting that CryptoQuant referred to the wave of selling "old" Bitcoins as the "largest release" of long-term supply of the first cryptocurrency in history.