A Bitcoin address that had held 35.55 BTC untouched since March 2011 moved 15 BTC this week, becoming one of the first publicly visible responses from a named defendant in a New York state lawsuit that claims legal title over 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets.
Court-Authorized On-Chain Service, 90-Day Response Window
The wallet 1LwWtSs7tMCwcRczQd5kVMv3xpWw6w4Sxe sent 15 BTC to a new address and held the remaining 20.55 BTC as change in transaction b90755b at 16:46 UTC on June 2, recorded in block 952,104. The original coins were received on March 27, 2011, when bitcoin traded at less than a dollar.
The lawsuit, filed March 11, 2026 at the New York County Supreme Court (index 153119/2026) and amended on May 1, names pseudonymous plaintiff Noah Doe and two Wyoming LLCs: ABC Company and XYZ Company. They seek ownership of roughly 3.8 million bitcoin valued at about $285 billion under New York's lost-property statute. The court authorized service of defendants via OP_RETURN messages, a Bitcoin field that embeds short text permanently on-chain.
Dust Transactions Broadcast, Wallet Responds Months Later
Noah Doe's blockchain consultant, Salomon Brothers Strategic Advisors, broadcast 98 batches of dust transactions across blocks 950,446 to 950,576 in June and July 2025, each carrying 546 satoshis and a link to the abandonment notice. The 1LwWt wallet was served on July 31, 2025, with a 90-day window to respond. The move came nearly seven months after the window expired and about three months after the lawsuit was formally filed.
Galaxy Research's Alex Thorn flagged the move on X, identifying the wallet as defendant #38215. "Apparently, they were not, in fact, abandoned," he wrote. Hundreds of wallets moved coins during the initial notice campaign and were excluded from the final defendant list, per Galaxy's analysis.
Another 15-Year-Dormant Wallet Moves 20 BTC
Separately, a 15-year-dormant wallet 1CDSyXAQxro4FPUoqAQb81642ruqDsUiNp moved 20 BTC ($1.48 million) to a SegWit address about 13 hours before the 1LwWt move, per Arkham Intelligence. That wallet received its coins around the same 2011 window but does not appear to have been targeted by the Noah Doe notice campaign or named in the lawsuit.