CLARITY draft targets claim to 3.8M dormant Bitcoin

A new provision in the July 22 CLARITY draft could make it harder to claim dormant Bitcoin under state abandoned-property laws. Section 20216 says a self-custodied digital asset cannot be treated as abandoned, unclaimed, forfeited, or subject to finder's title solely because its owner has not moved it or shown continued interest.

The language goes further than the May 8 and May 20 Senate drafts, which focused on the right to use a self-hosted wallet and control private keys. It would protect continued ownership of assets held directly by their owners, while leaving state unclaimed-property rules in place for Bitcoin held by exchanges, brokers, and other custodians.

The provision responds to a lawsuit in New York involving claims over 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses containing about 3.799 million BTC. The plaintiffs cite the state's lost-property rules, police reports, public notices sent through OP_RETURN transactions, and attempts to contact possible owners. Their case argues that the coins qualify as lost property after years without activity or a successful ownership claim.

Section 20216 would remove inactivity alone as a basis for taking title, but it would not automatically end the lawsuit. A court could still assess whether the plaintiffs' additional evidence supports their claim. The provision also remains subject to Senate negotiations and could be narrowed or removed before passage.