1,878 BTC Moved After Judge Pauses Noah Doe Dormant-Wallet Suit
A 2019 bitcoin wallet tied to Noah Doe’s 39,069-address claim moved 1,878.5711 BTC ($114.16M) after a New York judge paused the dormant-wallet title case.
On June 7, at block height 952,767, a bitcoin wallet listed as No. 137 in Noah Doe’s filed roster transferred 1,878.5711 BTC, about $114.16 million. Chain analysis firm Galaxy Research identified the transaction and noted the address had been dormant since Dec. 18, 2019.
The transfer was the first recorded activity for that address in roughly 6.5 years. Galaxy Research also reported the address had previously received small “dust” transactions that carried an OP_RETURN notice embedded in the transaction history.
The OP_RETURN text reads: “This digital wallet appears to be lost or abandoned. Our client has taken constructive possession of it and is [sic] seeks to determine if there is a bona fide owner.” The dust payments were 546 satoshis each and were sent to thousands of addresses named in the complaint. Galaxy Research has used the term “Salomon-dusted” to refer to wallets that received those micro-payments and noted the bitcoin moved from an address labeled “Salomon Client Dusted.”
At the end of May, attorney Ian R. Cohen filed a Proposed Order to Show Cause and a proposed amicus brief in the case Noah Doe v. John Does 1-39,069. A New York Supreme Court judge issued a stay and scheduled a hearing, pausing proceedings and halting an anticipated technical default that would have occurred about 30 days after service.
Noah Doe, a pseudonymous plaintiff, says he developed an algorithm that identified 39,069 dormant bitcoin addresses. Doe says he cataloged the addresses on USB drives and delivered them to the NYPD, then invoked New York’s lost-and-found statute, Article 7-B, seeking recognition of constructive possession and legal title to roughly 3.8 million BTC, which he values at about $293 billion. The complaint names addresses tied to figures and entities such as Satoshi Nakamoto, Mt. Gox and a Counterparty burn address.
Several other addresses in Doe’s list, including wallets created in 2011, showed renewed on-chain activity around the same period as the June 7 transfer. The court will consider facts and arguments about control and title at the scheduled hearing.
Neither Doe nor Cohen provided immediate public comment about the on-chain activity.
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