Ex-Ripple CTO Mocks NY Suit Over 3.79M Dormant BTC

A lawsuit filed in a New York court in May 2026 asks a judge to declare a claimant known as “Noah Doe” the legal owner of more than 39,000 dormant Bitcoin wallets that together hold about 3.79 million BTC. The amended complaint says the claimant reported the addresses to the New York Police Department and issued on-chain and press notices to potential owners.

The complaint identifies wallets attributed to Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, early miner addresses, holdings tied to Casascius physical coins, and addresses linked to past hacks and unidentified entities. At current market prices, the combined face value of the targeted addresses runs into the hundreds of billions of dollars.

David Schwartz, former chief technology officer at Ripple, posted on X a skeptical response to the suit. One post said a court might one day approve “something dumb like this” and added, “BSV might honor it.” The reference is to Bitcoin SV, a fork long associated with Craig Wright and that has accepted court-driven claims in the past.

Legal and technical observers note that a civil judgment on ownership does not itself transfer control of bitcoin on the main Bitcoin network. The protocol is maintained by thousands of independent nodes and there is no central authority that can rewrite on-chain transaction history or move coins without the private keys that control the addresses.

To enforce a transfer in practice, authorities or a successful claimant would generally need physical control of the private keys or cooperation from custodial platforms that hold access to funds. The complaint does not allege that the private keys for the dormant wallets are held by any defendant or are subject to seizure.

Plaintiffs say their notices put possible owners on formal notice, but questions remain about whether on-chain messages or press notices can reach the custodians of long-dormant private keys. The case will proceed in New York court and is likely to involve further briefing on notice, jurisdiction and remedies for on-chain assets that have not moved in years.