Bitcoin address has been inactive for nearly 15 years, but suddenly shows activity; a New York “Sleeping Bitcoin” ownership lawsuit is involved

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BlockBeats news, July 6 — A Bitcoin address that had been dormant for nearly 15 years recently made its first transfer, moving 30 BTC worth approximately $1.88 million at current prices.

According to on-chain data from Galaxy Research, the address "1KV47" had received 30 BTC in August 2011 and never made any transfers until last Saturday, when it sent funds out for the first time.

The address is one of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses involved in a lawsuit in New York. The plaintiff, "Noah Doe," along with two companies registered in Wyoming, is attempting to claim ownership of the Bitcoin in these long-inactive addresses under New York's abandoned property law. Sani, founder of analytics platform Timechain Index, stated that these addresses collectively hold approximately 3.7 million BTC, valued at around $234 billion, including addresses widely believed to belong to Satoshi Nakamoto.

Galaxy Digital's research director, Alex Thorn, noted that dormant addresses related to the lawsuit have seen a significant increase in activity recently. In June, 31 addresses moved 17,527 BTC, compared to just five addresses moving 4,834 BTC in February.

However, the legal community generally believes the lawsuit's foundation is weak. Last Friday, a defendant claiming to control one of the addresses, "John Doe 33," filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that Bitcoin addresses are merely data strings and cannot be sued as entities.

Edwin Mata, CEO and lawyer of tokenization platform Brickken, stated that the mere fact that an address has been inactive for a long time does not prove the assets have been abandoned. Under property law, proving abandonment typically requires evidence of the owner's clear intent to relinquish ownership rights. Dormant addresses may simply reflect long-term cold storage, lost private keys, or holders choosing to hold for the long term, which is insufficient to support the plaintiff's claim.

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