The cryptocurrency industry has seen its share of unusual court battles. Yet a new Bitcoin lawsuit may rank among the most extraordinary.
The case was filed by a New York resident using the pseudonym Noah Doe, along with two corporate entities. The lawsuit seeks legal ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets worth an estimated $293 billion. That figure exceeds the net worth of many of the world’s wealthiest individuals.
The plaintiff claims to have developed an algorithm that identified Bitcoin wallets showing no on-chain activity for at least five years. After compiling the data, the wallet information was reportedly placed on USB drives and handed to law enforcement as lost property.
The plaintiff’s team then sent abandonment notices to wallet owners. According to the filing, more than 400 owners responded by moving their Bitcoin. However, over 39,000 wallets remained inactive, prompting the lawsuit.
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Bitcoin Lawsuit Faces Sharp Criticism
Ripple CTO David Schwartz was quick to challenge the legal theory behind the case. He described the lawsuit’s reasoning as “comically bad” and argued that it contains major legal weaknesses.
According to Schwartz, one of the biggest problems is jurisdiction. He questioned the idea that a New York court could claim authority over Bitcoin wallets simply because the plaintiff identified them while located in New York.
The lawsuit relies heavily on local lost-and-found statutes. Critics argue that such laws were never designed to apply to decentralized digital assets spread across a global network.
Bitcoin Lawsuit Raises Questions About Network Control
The case has also attracted attention because it could affect wallets believed to be connected to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.
Galaxy Research Head Alex Thorn has also expressed skepticism. He noted that it would be extraordinary for a court to transfer ownership of nearly $293 billion in Bitcoin to three anonymous parties.
Even if a court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, Schwartz believes the Bitcoin network itself would not recognize or enforce such an order. He added that while some blockchain forks might honor court directives, the main Bitcoin network is highly unlikely to comply.
For now, the Bitcoin lawsuit remains one of the most ambitious, and controversial legal challenges the crypto industry has ever seen.
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