Someone filed a lawsuit in New York trying to claim ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses. The Bitcoin Policy Institute would very much like them to not succeed.
BPI, a non-partisan think tank focused on Bitcoin policy, has filed a motion to intervene in a New York County Supreme Court case that could redefine what it means to “own” Bitcoin you haven’t touched in a while. The case, filed in May 2026 by a pseudonymous plaintiff called “Noah Doe” alongside two Wyoming entities, argues that Bitcoin sitting untouched in wallets for five to six years qualifies as abandoned property under New York Personal Property Law Article 7-B.
The estimated holdings in those dormant wallets: approximately 3.7 million BTC. At the time of filing, that stash was valued somewhere between $237 billion and $293 billion.
The legal theory, and why it matters
BPI’s position is straightforward. Self-custodied Bitcoin isn’t abandoned just because it hasn’t moved on-chain recently. The whole point of self-custody is that you hold your own keys, on your own timeline, without needing to prove to anyone that you’re still paying attention.
