- The Digital Chamber filed a second amicus brief in New York Supreme Court opposing a lawsuit claiming ownership of Satoshi Nakamoto’s dormant Bitcoin holdings.
- The lawsuit targets 39,069 Bitcoin addresses holding approximately 3.8 million BTC, worth over $240 billion at current prices.
- A real defendant, “John Doe 33,” has stepped forward claiming ownership of one of the addresses and seeking dismissal of the entire case.
- A New York Supreme Court judge has stayed proceedings pending a July 14 hearing.
A second amicus brief has been filed in New York Supreme Court opposing “Noah Doe’s” bid to claim ownership over Satoshi Nakamoto’s 3.8 million dormant Bitcoin holdings as “abandoned property.” The blockchain trade association Digital Chamber filed the brief with support from consulting firm CahillNXT and Brown Rudnick attorney Stephen Palley, according to a court filing.
The lawsuit, originally filed in March 2026 and expanded in May, covers 39,069 Bitcoin addresses holding roughly 3.8 million BTC. The list includes addresses tied to Satoshi Nakamoto’s early mining activity, identified through the Patoshi nonce pattern, along with an address linked to the 2011 Mt. Gox hack.
The plaintiffs structured the claim to fit within New York’s lost-property statute threshold by valuing each wallet at under $10. At Bitcoin’s current price of around $63,200, the total stash is worth over $240 billion.
A first amicus brief was filed on May 29 by attorney Ian Cohen, seeking to “educate” the court on the “inadequacies” of the plaintiffs’ arguments. That filing pushed back on the claim that long-dormant Bitcoin addresses can be treated as lost or abandoned property under New York law.
Last week, a person claiming to actually own coins named in the suit filed to enter as a genuine defendant. The filer, going by “John Doe 33,” submitted the case’s first motion to dismiss pro se, arguing the entire case should be voided outright.
The filing described the respondent as “a real human being,” not “any form of inanimate data,” a direct rebuttal to the idea that a blockchain address alone can be treated as a party to litigation. In June, a New York Supreme Court judge stayed all proceedings ahead of a July 14 hearing, which is now less than a week away.
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