{"id":9690,"date":"2026-06-08T10:21:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=9690"},"modified":"2026-06-08T10:21:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:21:56","slug":"judge-freezes-controversial-bid-to-claim-us234-billion-in-dormant-bitcoin-wallets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=9690","title":{"rendered":"Judge Freezes Controversial Bid to Claim US$234 Billion in Dormant Bitcoin Wallets"},"content":{"rendered":"

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  • A New York judge has paused a lawsuit seeking ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets holding an estimated 3.8 million BTC.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • The plaintiffs are attempting to use New York\u2019s lost-property laws to claim inactive wallets, a legal theory not previously applied to blockchain assets.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Attorney Ian R. Cohen argues the law was designed for tangible property and that existing virtual currency legislation already addresses dormant crypto holdings.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    A lawsuit attempting to secure ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets has been paused by a New York Supreme Court judge, delaying any effort to obtain a default judgment until at least a 14 July hearing. The addresses are estimated to contain roughly 3.8 million BTC, valued at around US$234 billion (AU$325.26 billion).<\/p>\n

    The action was filed by anonymous plaintiffs who argue that New York\u2019s lost-and-found statute can be used to transfer ownership of long-inactive wallets to a finder when the original owner fails to reclaim them. The approach represents a novel legal argument, as the law has not previously been used to claim blockchain-based assets.<\/p>\n

    Justice Kathy J. King issued the stay on 4 June, suspending further proceedings relating to the plaintiffs\u2019 request for a declaration of ownership. The court will hear arguments in July regarding a motion filed by attorney Ian R. Cohen to participate as amicus curiae.<\/p>\n

    Related: US Says It Has Seized US$1 Billion in Iranian Crypto Assets<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Amicus Brief Targets Novel Crypto Theory\u00a0<\/h2>\n

    Cohen\u2019s proposed brief challenges the foundation of the lawsuit, arguing that New York\u2019s lost-property framework assumes possession of a tangible item and cannot be extended to Bitcoin addresses recorded on a public blockchain. He also contends that blockchain addresses were never hidden from public view and therefore cannot be considered lost property.<\/p>\n

    The brief additionally cites a 2022 amendment to New York\u2019s Abandoned Property Law that established a process for handling dormant virtual currency through the State Comptroller. Cohen argues this legislative framework, rather than the lost-and-found statute, addresses dormant cryptocurrency assets.<\/p>\n

    The wallets named in the lawsuit include the \u201c1Feex\u201d address linked to the 2011 Mt. Gox hack, along with addresses that Galaxy Research says correspond to early Bitcoin-era \u201cPatoshi\u201d patterns associated with Bitcoin\u2019s creator.<\/p>\n

    Related: Crypto-Fueled Peptide Boom Surges Past US$100M as Biohacking Meets Looksmaxxing<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

    Bitcoin,Crypto Wallets,Whale#Judge #Freezes #Controversial #Bid #Claim #US234 #Billion #Dormant #Bitcoin #Wallets1780914116<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A New York judge has paused a lawsuit seeking ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets holding an estimated 3.8 million BTC. The plaintiffs are attempting to use New York\u2019s lost-property laws to claim inactive wallets, a legal theory not previously applied to blockchain assets. Attorney Ian R. Cohen argues the law was designed for tangible<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2243,277,91,1341,4828,4304,1829,645,4829,35],"class_list":["post-9690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bitcoin","tag-bid","tag-billion","tag-bitcoin","tag-claim","tag-controversial","tag-dormant","tag-freezes","tag-judge","tag-us234","tag-wallets"],"yoast_head":"\nJudge Freezes Controversial Bid to Claim US$234 Billion in Dormant Bitcoin Wallets - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=9690\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Judge Freezes Controversial Bid to Claim US$234 Billion in Dormant Bitcoin Wallets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A New York judge has paused a lawsuit seeking ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets holding an estimated 3.8 million BTC. 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