A Bitcoin holder using the pseudonym John Doe 33 has asked a New York court to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks legal ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses. He is the first person to formally respond in a case that treats roughly 3.799 million BTC as abandoned property, a stash described in the report as worth more than $200 billion at current prices.
A live defendant enters a case that had targeted wallet addresses
In a notice of appearance filed on June 30 in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, John Doe 33 described himself as “a natural person and a real human being” with constitutionally protected property rights. He also told the court that he is not “a Bitcoin blockchain address string, a digital wallet, a line of source code, or any other form of inanimate data.” He filed that notice together with a motion to dismiss, giving the suit its first active opponent after months in which no one had come forward to defend the addresses.
Plaintiffs rely on New York lost-property law
The plaintiffs are a claimant operating as Noah Doe and two Wyoming limited liability companies. They want the court to declare them the owners of about 3.799 million Bitcoin under Article 7-B of the New York Personal Property Law, which governs lost and found property. For jurisdictional purposes, they value the claim at $10. The report says some of the addresses are tied to Satoshi Nakamoto and other early miners, even though the coins in those wallets are now worth far more than $200 billion.
Even a ruling on title would not, by itself, let anyone move the Bitcoin. Control of the coins still depends on the relevant private keys. That point matters. The report notes that US authorities have typically relied on forfeiture proceedings rather than simple ownership declarations when taking control of seized crypto.
The defense challenges the idea that an address can stand in for a person
By appearing as a person with a claimed stake in the coins, John Doe 33 forces a procedural question the plaintiffs had avoided: whether someone with a real interest in the Bitcoin can be reduced to an entry on a list of blockchain addresses. In his motion, he reserved every defense and argued that the numbered John Does in the caption are labels attached to inert blockchain data, not people who can be sued.
The filing came after pro-Bitcoin lawyer Ian Cohen objected to the case. According to the report, Cohen’s amicus brief filed in late May led Justice Kathy J. King to freeze the case on June 5 and set a hearing for July 14.
Pseudonym request could shape the next stage of the dispute
John Doe 33 also asked the court to keep his real name off the public record. He said appearing openly would expose him to doxxing, extortion and physical harm, risks that have followed known holders of large Bitcoin sums. He filed a separate request seeking permission to continue the case under a pseudonym.
Two issues now sit before the court. One is whether John Doe 33 can proceed anonymously. The other is whether his dismissal motion can end Noah Doe’s bid before the court reaches any ruling on ownership. If anonymity is allowed, other people connected to the 39,069 addresses may be able to challenge the claim without linking their identities to valuable wallets.