A Bitcoin wallet dating back to the cryptocurrency’s early years has moved its holdings for the first time since 2011, months after being named as a defendant in a New York lawsuit alleging that its funds had been abandoned.
Earlier this week, the wallet transferred its entire balance of 75 BTC, worth approximately $5 million, to a new address. The transaction also included a small Bitcoin payment that lawyers had sent to the wallet months earlier as an official notification of the legal proceedings.
The lawsuit, filed in New York by a plaintiff identified as Noah Doe and two companies based in Wyoming, seeks ownership of Bitcoin stored across 39,069 wallet addresses. The plaintiffs argue that wallets inactive for at least five years should be considered abandoned property under New York law.
The legal action targets approximately 3.8 million BTC, including holdings believed to be associated with Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, as previously reported by CoinDesk. Since the identities of the wallet owners remain unknown, the court permitted the plaintiffs to notify them by sending small Bitcoin transactions containing links to the legal documents.
The wallet that became active on Thursday was identified as defendant No. 3,419 in an amended version of the complaint. Although the transaction does not reveal the identity of its controller, the movement of the funds raises questions about the lawsuit’s central argument that the Bitcoin had been abandoned.
Bitcoin Wallet Received Court Notice Through Small BTC Transfer
On May 22, the wallet received 546 satoshis, worth less than 40 cents at recent prices. The transaction included a message reading “COURT-ORDERED LEGAL NOTICE” alongside a link to the plaintiffs’ legal notification website.
One satoshi represents one-hundred-millionth of a Bitcoin.
Thursday’s transaction moved the original 75 BTC along with the small legal notification payment and three other minor deposits. One of those transfers contained a separate owner notification sent in July 2025 by Salomon Brothers Strategic Advisors, the consulting firm hired by the plaintiffs to reach unidentified wallet holders.
These small deposits were made separately from the wallet’s original Bitcoin holdings. However, the latest transaction consolidated all six amounts into a single transfer, leaving the previous address with no remaining balance.
Other wallets named in the lawsuit have also shown signs of activity. In June, CoinDesk reported that another address listed in the complaint, which had held 35.55 BTC since 2011, transferred 15 BTC and sent the remaining balance back to itself as change.
As of Friday evening, the 75 BTC remained at the newly created destination address. The transaction confirms that someone still has access to the wallet’s private keys, but it does not establish the owner’s identity or whether the legal proceedings prompted the transfer.
Even if the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, such a decision would not automatically give them access to the private keys required to move the Bitcoin. The complaint states that an expert hired by the plaintiffs valued the so-called “found wallets” at less than $10 because recovering their funds remains uncertain.
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