Bitcoin Lawsuit: Attorney Fights To Protect $200B BTC Tied To Satoshi, Dormant Whales

A lawsuit over billions of dollars in dormant Bitcoin has heated up as Attorney Ian R. Cohen has submitted a rebuttal to a case that is trying to overturn a court-ordered stay in New York. The case hovers around Noah Doe is seeking ownership rights over 39,069 Bitcoin wallet addresses. These include those linked to Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

Bitcoin Lawyer Defends Satoshi, Whales’ Dormant BTC Stash

In the lawsuit, brought by anonymous plaintiffs named ABC Company, XYZ Company and Noah Doe, the plaintiffs are claiming that the targeted Bitcoin addresses are abandoned property. Alex Thorn, Galaxy Digital’s research head, noted that the case may affect approximately 3.799 million BTC worth approximately $238 billion. This comes after the court gave a July 14 hearing date for an amicus brief.

Thorn explained in a series of posts on X that Cohen’s most recent filing was a “strong rebuttal” to any attempt by plaintiffs’ attorney David Lin to lift the stay he had set earlier this month.

In the past, Cohen has stated that the lost property law in New York does not cover self-custodied Bitcoin. He added that wallet dormancy does not constitute abandonment, and that New York courts have no jurisdiction over private keys.

cohen argues plaintiffs have a duty of candor.. the blockchain is public, and if any "abandoned" address has moved coins, the keys aren't lost and the entire premise is false pic.twitter.com/mckIULUluh

— Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) June 20, 2026

Justice Kathy King granted the stay on June 4 when Cohen filed an application to be an amicus. Cohen, in a June 19 filing, disagreed with Lin’s contention that the stay was unnecessary because it was requested by a non-party.

“While I requested a stay in my Order to Show Cause, this Court independently reviewed the papers, found sufficient cause, and exercised its own discretion under CPLR § 2201 to enter the stay,” Cohen wrote. He added, “The stay is the Court’s order, not mine.”

Major Objections To Facts In The Case

Cohen further stated that the defendants are unlikely to show up in court as the lawsuit is targeting pseudonymous wallet addresses instead of people.

“The ‘Defendants’ in this action are 39,069 pseudonymous Bitcoin wallet addresses,” Cohen stated. He further added, “They are not natural persons who have been served with process in any meaningful sense.”

In short, the filing said, lifting the stay would enable the plaintiffs to obtain a default judgment against the defendants. This would impose consequences on the value of about $238 billion of Bitcoin held by investors without the defendants’ objections.

“This is not a routine commercial dispute,” Cohen wrote. In addition, he noted, “It is an unprecedented attempt to obtain a declaratory judgment affecting the property rights of tens of thousands of individuals worldwide.”

Cohen also objected to the facts of the Bitcoin lawsuit. He cited some of the homes being targeted have recently been active on the blockchain. A statement in the complaint pointed to several addresses that were identified which recorded outbound transactions. It signaled that “someone with access to the associated private keys has moved Bitcoin out of those addresses.”

The researchers at Galaxy found 52 names that moved 34,335 BTC, with 29 of those receiving an alert about the lawsuit transferring 12,302 BTC. It has raised doubts about the notion that the wallets were abandoned or inaccessible.