Key Takeaways
- A Bitcoin wallet linked to the Noah Doe lawsuit moved 411.45 BTC after more than 13 years.
- The holding’s reported value increased from roughly $54,000 to $33.4 million.
- The transaction challenges assumptions about dormant wallets without establishing legal ownership.
A Bitcoin wallet targeted by a lawsuit claiming supposedly abandoned crypto has moved roughly $33.4 million, raising fresh questions about whether years of inactivity mean an owner has walked away.
Galaxy Research flagged the Oct. 18 transfer from a Bitcoin wallet first funded in 2013 and identified it as one named in the Noah Doe case.
Bitcoin Wallet Breaks 13-Year Silence
The address transferred 411.45 BTC in its first outgoing transaction since receiving funds on Sept. 11, 2013.
“This address had never sent coins,” Galaxy Research wrote in its Oct. 18 post.
Galaxy identified the sender as “Noah Doe #970,” linking it to a New York lawsuit targeting 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses.
The case was brought by a plaintiff using the pseudonym Noah Doe alongside two Wyoming companies.
They claim the wallets, reportedly holding approximately 3.8 million BTC, can be claimed under New York’s lost-property laws despite lacking the private keys needed to access them.
The coins were worth approximately $54,000 when the address was funded, compared with around $33.4 million at the time of the transfer.
Using those rounded figures, the holding increased approximately 619-fold — a gain of roughly 61,752%.
It’s important to note that the transfer does not establish the sender’s identity or legal ownership. The coins were also sent to an unlabeled address, so this does not prove a sale.
What Does the Bitcoin Wallet Lawsuit Claim?
The lawsuit rests on the argument that identifying inactive wallets and following New York’s lost-property procedures can establish ownership rights over them.
As CCN previously explained, the process involved delivering USB drives containing wallet addresses to the NYPD and distributing notices via blockchain transactions and public outreach.
Owners were given a 90-day window to respond, including anonymously, through a webpage explaining the claim.
The complaint notes that some wallets initially identified were excluded after activity indicated they had not been abandoned.
Of 42,001 addresses initially identified, 2,932 were removed for various reasons.
Those included 424 that had taken “‘on-chain’ action to make Noah Doe aware that the wallet has not been abandoned.”
The plaintiffs argue that the remaining addresses qualify for their claim because no equivalent response had occurred by the filing date.
Lost Bitcoin and Sleeping Whales Tell Different Stories
Bitcoin’s history offers striking examples of why inaccessible funds and inactive holdings should not automatically be treated as the same thing.
One of the best-known cases involves James Howells and his lost 8,000 BTC.
The Welsh IT engineer spent years trying to recover a hard drive discarded in 2013 that he says contains the private keys to the coins.
His attempts to excavate a Newport landfill became a prolonged dispute with the local council.
“For over 12 years, I tried everything to engage with Newport City Council,” Howells wrote in an August 2025 post.
Other fortunes have returned to circulation after similarly lengthy silences.
In July 2025, CCN reported that a whale holding approximately 80,000 BTC became active after around 14 years.
The holding was worth over $9.3 billion at the time, with a 20,000 BTC transfer to Galaxy Digital valued at over $2.3 billion.
The latest transfer reinforces the difficulty at the heart of the Noah Doe case, years without a transaction do not necessarily mean Bitcoin has been abandoned.
The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as, financial advice. We do not make any warranties regarding the completeness, reliability, or accuracy of this information. All investments involve risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. We recommend consulting a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
