$260B Lawsuit-Linked Bitcoin Wallet Moves Coins After 15 Years of Dormancy

A Bitcoin wallet that had remained inactive since 2011 has suddenly transferred its entire 75 BTC balance, worth approximately $5 million, to a new address. The transaction occurred months after the wallet was included in a New York lawsuit seeking to claim cryptocurrency holdings considered abandoned.

The transfer was made on Thursday evening, moving all 75 BTC to a different address. Interestingly, the transaction also included a tiny Bitcoin deposit that lawyers had previously sent to the wallet to notify its unidentified owner about the ongoing lawsuit.

The legal dispute was initiated in New York by an individual identified as Noah Doe and two Wyoming-based companies. The plaintiffs are seeking ownership of Bitcoin stored across 39,069 addresses, arguing that wallets with no activity for at least five years should be treated as abandoned property under New York law.

The complaint targets approximately 3.8 million BTC, including coins linked to Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Since the wallet owners are unidentified, the court permitted the plaintiffs to send small Bitcoin payments containing links to the legal filings as a method of delivering notice.

The recently activated address was listed as defendant No. 3,419 in the amended complaint. Its latest transaction suggests that someone still possesses the private keys needed to control the funds. However, the transfer does not reveal the wallet owner’s identity or establish whether the lawsuit influenced the decision to move the Bitcoin.

Dormant Bitcoin Address Spends Court Notification Payments

On May 22, the address received 546 satoshis, worth less than 40 cents at recent prices. The transfer carried the message “COURT-ORDERED LEGAL NOTICE” and included a link to the plaintiffs’ website containing the legal documents.

One satoshi represents one-hundred-millionth of a Bitcoin.

The Thursday transaction moved the original 75 BTC along with the court notification payment and three other small deposits. One of the additional transfers contained a separate notice dated July 2025 from Salomon Brothers Strategic Advisors, the consulting firm appointed by the plaintiffs to contact wallet holders.

All six amounts were consolidated into one transaction, leaving the original Bitcoin address with a zero balance.

Other wallets named in the legal action have also shown signs of activity. In June, CoinDesk reported that another address, which had held 35.55 BTC since 2011, transferred 15 BTC and returned the remaining amount to itself as change.

The transferred 75 BTC remained at its new address as of Friday evening. Although the transaction confirms that the Bitcoin can still be accessed, it does not identify the person controlling the wallet or explain the reason behind the transfer.

A favorable court decision would also not automatically give the plaintiffs access to the private keys required to spend the funds. The complaint notes that an expert hired by the plaintiffs valued the identified dormant wallets at less than $10 because recovering their Bitcoin remains uncertain.