Digital Chamber tells court: 39,069 Bitcoin wallets aren't lost, they're just chilling 🧊

The Digital Chamber filed an amicus brief in a New York court seeking dismissal of a lawsuit that claims ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses, warning that treating inactive wallets as abandoned property would create a "pervasive cloud on title across self-custody wallets." The blockchain trade association's Monday filing was its second in the case and argues the plaintiffs' theory would undermine "the foundational principles of digital property ownership, with negative ripple effects reaching the traditional finance industry."

The lawsuit was brought in late May by "Noah Doe" and two Wyoming-based companies and could become a test of how dormant crypto is treated under New York's lost-property law. The listed addresses hold an estimated 3.7 million Bitcoin ($BTC), worth about $234 billion, and include some of the wallet addresses associated with Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, according to Sani, founder of analytics platform Timechain Index. The Digital Chamber describes itself as the oldest and largest digital asset trade association, representing over 250 members including crypto exchanges, banks and investment firms.

At least 31 of the listed addresses moved 17,527 $BTC in June, up from five addresses that transferred 4,834 $BTC in February, according to Galaxy Digital head of research Alex Thorn. Bitcoin address "1KV47" transferred 30 $BTC, worth about $1.88 million, on Saturday, marking the wallet's first movement in almost 15 years, with prior activity dating to August 2011. On Thursday, a pseudonymous defendant filed a notice of appearance and motion to dismiss, claiming they control one of the dormant wallets named in the lawsuit. Regardless of the case's outcome, it remains unclear how the plaintiffs could gain control of the assets without holding the private keys to the wallets.