NY Court Pauses Default Judgment After Lawyer Argues 39,069 Bitcoin Wallets Were Not Abandoned

2011-Era Coins Are Moving

The ineligible conflict is unfolding alongside a question of onchain enactment from immoderate of bitcoin’s oldest addresses. On June 6, 2026, Galaxy Research flagged a transaction involving 47.26 BTC, worthy astir $2.88 million, moving retired of a wallet that had been untouched since June 17, 2011, a dormancy play of much than 15 years.

The address, 18sLgPeB9wQVrE8JoWqtKtnucbsx3Lw1m7, is listed arsenic suspect code No. 37923 successful a New York Supreme Court lawsuit styled ABC Company, XYZ Company, and Noah Doe v. John Does 1-39,069, Index No. 153119/2026. Alex Thorn, caput of firmwide probe astatine Galaxy, noted the question connected X, calling attraction to the increasing signifier of named addresses showing enactment aft years of silence.

“More 2011 coins that were claimed arsenic ‘lost’ successful the ‘noah doe’ NY authorities lost-and-found lawsuit are awakening and moving onchain,” Thorn wrote.

That June 6 transaction was not isolated. Another transportation tied to the case, 25 BTC from a Casascius coin redemption, was spent astatine artifact tallness 952534 and discovered by Galaxy Research. On June 2, a abstracted wallet dormant since March 2011 moved 35.55 BTC, becoming 1 of the archetypal suspect addresses successful the Noah Doe suit to registry immoderate onchain enactment aft being named successful tribunal filings.

Each of these movements chips distant astatine the cardinal premise of the lawsuit: that these wallets were abandoned.

The Noah Doe Lawsuit

Filed March 11, 2026, and amended May 1, the lawsuit rests connected a caller ineligible theory. A pseudonymous plaintiff identified successful tribunal documents arsenic Noah Doe, a New York resident, claims helium developed an algorithm that identified dormant bitcoin wallets exhibiting what helium describes arsenic a information vulnerability. He placed lists of wallet nationalist addresses connected USB drives and delivered them to the NYPD’s 17th Precinct successful batches betwixt December 2024 and April 2025.

He past directed a cyber adept to insert OP_RETURN messages into each wallet directing holders to a webpage, wherever they had 90 days to show their wallets were not abandoned. Of 42,001 wallets initially identified, 424 took onchain enactment and were removed. The remaining 39,069, valued astatine astir $293 cardinal astatine existent marketplace prices, became the ground for a declaratory judgement assertion that Noah Doe and 2 Wyoming LLCs ain them outright nether New York’s lost-and-found spot statute.

The Amicus Intervention

On May 29, 2026, New York lawyer Ian R. Cohen filed a Proposed Order to Show Cause on with a projected amicus curiae brief, NYSCEF Doc. No. 33, earlier Hon. Kathy J. King successful New York County Supreme Court. Cohen’s brief, submitted connected behalf of nary enactment but arsenic an autarkic dependable for adversarial analysis, mounts a systematic ineligible situation crossed 7 points.

His halfway argument: Article 7-B of the New York Personal Property Law, the lost-and-found statute the plaintiffs trust on, was written for tangible carnal objects, not entries connected a globally distributed blockchain. A idiosyncratic scanning a nationalist ledger with an algorithm is not a “finder” nether the statute. Bitcoin cannot beryllium physically deposited with police. And dormancy, Cohen argues, is not abandonment.

“Abandonment requires intentional relinquishment of ownership and an outer enactment manifesting that intent,” Cohen wrote. Cohen’s amicus further states:

“Mere inactivity, nary substance however prolonged, is not abandonment.”

Cohen besides flagged the due ineligible framework. New York’s Abandoned Property Law, amended successful 2022 to specifically code unclaimed virtual currency, routes dormant crypto assets to the State Comptroller for escheat, not to backstage parties oregon Wyoming LLCs.

He further challenged the suit’s owed process foundation, arguing OP_RETURN messages and a planetary property merchandise bash not represent constitutionally capable notice, peculiarly for deceased holders, non-English speakers, and wallets utilizing older code formats that whitethorn not person specified messages.

He besides raised jurisdictional questions, noting that bitcoin has nary cognizable ineligible situs successful New York and that the immense bulk of the 39,069 wallet holders are astir surely not New York residents. Cohen’s little besides pointed to a judicial recusal that had already occurred successful the case.

Acting Justice Emily Morales-Minerva recused herself connected March 23, 2026, citing an ethical struggle with being directed to regularisation connected a substance different justness successful the aforesaid jurisdiction had already partially decided.

Court Acts connected June 5

The tribunal moved quickly. On June 5, 2026, Judge King issued a Decision and Order connected Motion No. 001, characterized arsenic an injunction and restraining order, and took enactment connected Motion No. 004, Cohen’s amicus-related filing. The proceedings were stayed and immoderate propulsion toward a default judgement was halted pending further hearing.

Image source: Cohen’s X station astir the tribunal case.

The enactment is important due to the fact that the suspect wallet addresses, served via OP_RETURN and property release, are improbable to look and contention the case. Without adversarial input, the plaintiffs’ mentation risked proceeding unchecked toward an uncontested default. Cohen’s involution changed that calculus.

“Not your keys, not your coins,” Cohen wrote successful his brief, invoking the foundational bitcoin rule and applying it straight to the court’s information of the claim.

What This All Means

The lawsuit carries implications beyond the courtroom. If the Noah Doe mentation prevailed, immoderate enactment with blockchain investigation tools and a constabulary presumption adjacent could theoretically people long-dormant wallets anyplace connected the bitcoin network. Cohen’s little explicitly named that risk, informing the tribunal that accepting the plaintiffs’ statement would endanger the spot rights of each self-custody bitcoin holder successful New York.

The wallet database successful the lawsuit includes addresses linked successful nationalist reporting to the 2011 Mt. Gox hack, and others analyzed arsenic perchance associated with Bitcoin’s genesis-era mining. The “1Feex” address, listed arsenic John Doe No. 1, holds astir 80,000 BTC and has been wide discussed successful transportation with the Mt Gox theft.

Cohen noted that a New York state-court ownership declaration implicit assets perchance taxable to Japanese civilian rehabilitation proceedings and U.S. national forfeiture involvement would hazard superior ineligible conflict. The court’s enactment means the lawsuit present heads toward a proceeding with those questions connected the table.