NY judge pauses lawsuit over 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets

A New York judge has temporarily halted a lawsuit seeking legal ownership of tens of thousands of dormant Bitcoin wallets, preventing the plaintiffs from securing a default judgment ahead of a scheduled court hearing. The case, which involves approximately 39,069 wallets collectively holding an estimated 3.8 million Bitcoin, was paused by New York Supreme Court Justice Kathy J. King on June 4, with the order filed publicly the following day.

The lawsuit, filed under the caption ABC Company, XYZ Company, and Noah Doe v. John Does 1-39,069, seeks a declaratory judgment that the plaintiffs own the wallets under New York’s Personal Property Law Article 7B, the state’s lost-and-found property statute. The anonymous plaintiffs, led by an individual identified as Noah Doe, claim to have used a proprietary algorithm to identify wallets they argue have been abandoned. According to the complaint, Doe reported the addresses to the New York Police Department in several batches between late 2024 and early 2025 and subsequently sent blockchain notifications to the wallets. The plaintiffs contend that a lack of response constitutes legal abandonment.

However, this novel legal theory is now...