A New York County Supreme Court case seeks title to about 3.8 million BTC, valued around $293B, tied to 39,069 John Doe defendant addresses. The filing was made March 11, 2026 and expanded May 1. The plaintiffs include Noah Doe and two Wyoming limited liability companies, with no beneficial owners disclosed. Noah Doe claims he identified dormant addresses using a proprietary algorithm and delivered USB drives listing those addresses to the NYPD as found property, without obtaining private keys or taking possession of funds. The claim relies on New York’s lost-and-found statute, using a valuation under $10 per address to trigger a one-year vesting track. Onchain analysis challenges that valuation, reporting far higher holdings and value per address, undermining the shortcut.
"A New York County Supreme Court case seeks title to about 3.8 million BTC, valued around $293B, tied to 39,069 John Doe defendant addresses. The filing was made March 11, 2026 and expanded May 1. The plaintiffs include Noah Doe and two Wyoming limited liability companies, with no beneficial owners disclosed. Noah Doe claims he identified dormant addresses using a proprietary algorithm and delivered USB drives listing those addresses to the NYPD as found property, without obtaining private keys or taking possession of funds."
"The legal theory hinges on a single number supplied by an unnamed expert: each address is valued at under $10. That figure triggers Section 257(2) of the statute, a shortcut track for low-value lost property that vests title in the finder just one year after the find, without requiring a prolonged police holding period. Galaxy Research’s onchain analysis dismantles that valuation directly."
"According to Thorn’s report, the 39,069 addresses hold 3,799,629 BTC worth approximately $293.5 billion at current prices. The average address holds 97.25 BTC, which implies a value far above the under-$10 threshold needed to use the statute’s shortcut. This mismatch weakens the plaintiffs’ argument for immediate title vesting."
"A New York default judgment could surface by late June 2026, though courts are unlikely to rubber-stamp the full request. The case is New York County Supreme Court Index No. 153119/2026. Galaxy Research’s analyst Alex Thorn confirmed the initial post and added that his firm has tracked the matter since the fall, stating the team is now comprehensively unpacking a lawsuit in which 3 anonymous parties want a NY court to grant them ~3.8M BTC."
Read at news.bitcoin.com
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