Unknown claimant contests suit over dormant Satoshi-era Bitcoin

A New York lawsuit that seeks control of 3.799 million dormant Bitcoin now has a direct challenger, raising the stakes for holders of long-inactive wallets. The coins targeted by the case are worth more than $200 billion at current prices and include addresses widely linked to Satoshi Nakamoto and early miners.

On June 30, a pseudonymous respondent calling himself John Doe 33 filed a notice of appearance in New York Supreme Court. He said he is a real person with property rights, not a wallet address or other form of data. The filing answers a suit from ABC Company, XYZ Company, and a pseudonymous plaintiff known as Noah Doe, who argue that 39,069 inactive Bitcoin addresses should be treated as lost property under New York law.

John Doe 33 is also asking to stay anonymous, saying disclosure could expose him to doxxing, extortion, and physical risk because of the size of the holdings involved. He also reserved defenses tied to a motion to dismiss.

The case was already under pressure before his filing. Earlier reports said 52 addresses named in the suit moved about 34,335 BTC, worth roughly $2 billion, weakening the idea that dormancy alone shows abandonment. An amicus brief filed in May by attorney Ian Cohen also argued New York lost-property law was written for physical objects, not public blockchain records.