$BTC Satoshi Nakamoto era Bitcoin addresses move after 14 years

A Satoshi Nakamoto era address that has not been used since March 2011 and holds 35.55 Bitcoins (about $2.54 million) transferred funds this week, which is seen as one of the first publicly visible responses by the defendant in a lawsuit involving approximately 3.8 million Bitcoins (worth about $285 billion) in New York. On-chain data shows that this address sent 15 BTC to a new address on June 2, with the remaining 20.55 BTC kept as change. The address initially received Bitcoin on March 27, 2011, when BTC was worth less than $1. This March, a plaintiff using the pseudonym Noah Doe, along with two Wyoming LLCs, filed a lawsuit in New York State court, attempting to claim ownership of approximately 3.8 million long-dormant Bitcoin wallets under New York's Lost Property Law, positioning themselves as the discoverer. The court approved sending on-chain notices to the relevant wallets via Bitcoin's OP_RETURN field. In July 2025, consulting firm Salomon Brothers Strategic Advisors sent dust transactions with legal notice links to 39k wallets, including the aforementioned address, requiring holders to prove ownership within 90 days. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Research, pointed out that the address corresponds to defendant number 38215 in the case, and it is clear that these Bitcoins have not actually been abandoned. Additionally, another dormant address, 1CDSyXAQxro4FPUoqAQb81642ruqDsUiNp, which has been inactive for 15 years, transferred 20 BTC (about $148,000) on the same day, but this address was not listed in Noah Doe's lawsuit. Analysts believe that the on-chain activity indicates that some of the Bitcoin considered abandoned from the Satoshi Nakamoto era are still under the control of their original owners.