Somebody Tried to Claim $285B in Bitcoin Using a 1958 Lost Property Law

Key Takeaways:

• Noah Doe filed suit May 1, 2026 claiming 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets.
• Wallets include addresses linked to Satoshi, early miners, and the Mt. Gox hacker.
• Plaintiff submitted wallet addresses to NYPD as lost property to establish finders rights.
• Even if he wins in court he has no private keys – the Bitcoin physically cannot move.
• Dust notices went to wrong address format – actual Satoshi-era BTC sits elsewhere.

Someone calling himself Noah Doe walked into the NYPD’s 17th precinct in late 2024 with a USB drive. On it: a list of 39,069 Bitcoin wallet addresses he claimed were abandoned. He filed the drive as lost property under New York law, got a receipt, waited for nobody to come forward, and then sued in ...