Salomon Brothers Say It Has Completed Process of Notifying 'Abandoned' Crypto Wallets

The revived Salomon Brothers announced connected Thursday that it has completed the process of inserting OP_Return notices to bitcoin (BTC) wallets assumed to person been abandoned.

According to a property merchandise shared with CoinDesk, the New York-based concern slope are sending the notices to forestall "rogue states and transgression organizations with important resources" from perchance accessing these wallets successful future.

The process itself has created a wealthiness of debate, with speculation suggesting the Salomon Brothers person ties to radical similar Craig Wright.

"[They] are utilizing Bitcoin's ain infrastructure arsenic a bulletin board," David Carvalho, CEO of Naoris Protocol, told CoinDesk. "It's precise clever. And they're going big, targeting immoderate infamous wallets similar the "1Feex" address, which holds astir 80,000 BTC."

According to the Salomon Brothers website, assets near untouched for 14 years whitethorn beryllium considered legally abandoned nether a "Doctrine of Abandonment,” frankincense leaving the beforehand doorway unfastened successful presumption of repossession.

The method of gaining entree to those wallets remains unclear, Carvalho told CoinDesk that the bitcoin assemblage "isn't doing what needs to beryllium done" to forestall methods similar Quantum hacking.

"The draught BIP proposals are wholly inadequate, and achieving statement connected a hard fork volition instrumentality truthful agelong that it volition beryllium excessively late. Considering 6.51 cardinal bitcoin worthy of $700 cardinal is astatine stake, it’s staggering however dilatory the Bitcoin assemblage is moving," helium added.

The Salomon Brothers said that its client, who remains anonymous, plans to allocate a information of the recovered bitcoin to a money intended for wallet owners who mislaid their keys, details of which volition beryllium released implicit the coming months.

The notices sent to wallet holders springiness a 90 time deadline, wrong which they tin "claim ownership" of the wallets by sending a transaction oregon filling retired a signifier connected the Salomon Brothers website.

The property merchandise notes that "some owners responded to the notices by moving their integer assets to caller wallets."