Defendant files to dismiss New York lawsuit seeking ownership of 39,069 Bitcoin wallets
A pseudonymous defendant, “John Doe 33,” moved to dismiss a New York lawsuit that seeks ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses. The defendant says Bitcoin addresses are just data strings, not legal persons or entities, so they cannot be sued or “found” under New York lost-property law because they are already public on the blockchain. The case was filed by “Noah Doe” and two Wyoming LLCs, which claim the BTC tied to the listed addresses is abandoned property reported to police and claimed under state law. The complaint includes addresses linked to Satoshi Nakamoto and the Mt. Gox hack and alleges about 3.7 million BTC in total. Blockchain data suggests John Doe 33 controls a separate wallet with 5,000 BTC, untouched since 2014 and now worth over $300 million. The motion blocked what may have been a likely default judgment and raised jurisdictional and statutory challenges.
