A dormant Bitcoin wallet established during the cryptocurrency’s early years has transferred its entire 75 BTC balance for the first time since 2011. The transaction comes months after the address was named in a New York lawsuit seeking ownership of Bitcoin allegedly abandoned by its holders.
On Thursday evening, the wallet moved approximately 75 BTC, valued at nearly $5 million, to a new address. The transfer also included a small Bitcoin payment previously sent by lawyers to notify the wallet’s unidentified owner about the legal case.
The lawsuit was brought in New York by an individual identified as Noah Doe and two Wyoming-based companies. The plaintiffs are asking the court to grant them ownership of Bitcoin held across 39,069 wallet addresses, arguing that funds in wallets inactive for at least five years qualify as abandoned property under New York law.
The complaint covers approximately 3.8 million BTC, including coins believed to belong to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. As previously reported by CoinDesk, the court approved an unusual notification method that allowed the plaintiffs to contact unidentified wallet owners through small Bitcoin transactions containing links to the legal documents.
The recently activated address appeared as defendant No. 3,419 in the amended lawsuit. Although the latest transaction confirms that someone still controls the wallet, it does not disclose the owner’s identity. More importantly, the movement of the funds challenges the plaintiffs’ argument that the Bitcoin had been permanently abandoned.
Dormant Wallet Moves Bitcoin Alongside Court Notification Payments
The wallet received 546 satoshis on May 22, an amount worth less than 40 cents at recent market prices. The transaction included the message “COURT-ORDERED LEGAL NOTICE” and a link directing the recipient to the plaintiffs’ notification page.
A satoshi represents the smallest unit of Bitcoin, equivalent to one-hundred-millionth of a BTC.
When the wallet transferred its holdings on Thursday, it also spent the legal notification payment and three additional small deposits. One of these included a separate notice sent in July 2025 by Salomon Brothers Strategic Advisors, the consulting firm hired by the plaintiffs to contact wallet owners.
Unlike the original 75 BTC, these smaller amounts had arrived through separate transactions. The latest transfer combined all six deposits into a single transaction, effectively emptying the original wallet address.
Other addresses included in the lawsuit have also recorded activity. In June, CoinDesk reported that another wallet listed in the complaint, which had remained inactive since 2011 with 35.55 BTC, transferred 15 BTC while returning the remaining funds to its own address as change.
The 75 BTC transferred on Thursday remained at the destination address as of Friday evening. While the transaction demonstrates that the funds are still accessible, it provides no evidence identifying the person behind the wallet or confirming whether the lawsuit triggered the movement.
Even a favorable court ruling would not automatically provide the plaintiffs with the private keys required to access or transfer the Bitcoin. According to the complaint, an expert hired by the plaintiffs valued the identified dormant wallets at less than $10 because the possibility of recovering their holdings remains uncertain.
