Satoshi-Era Bitcoin Moves Amid $285 Billion Lawsuit

A long-dormant Bitcoin address, known as 1LwWtSs7tMCwcRczQd5kVMv3xpWw6w4Sxe, has moved 35.55 BTC, valued at about $2.54 million, after holding the coins untouched since March 2011. This transfer, made on June 2, 2026, is one of the first visible responses from a defendant in a significant lawsuit claiming ownership of nearly 3.8 million BTC under New York's lost-property statute.

The lawsuit, filed on March 11, 2026, by a pseudonymous plaintiff "Noah Doe" alongside two Wyoming LLCs, aims to exercise legal ownership over 39,069 dormant wallets. The plaintiffs have utilized Bitcoin's OP_RETURN, a feature allowing users to embed text in transactions, to notify the wallet owners of the legal claim. In total, 98 batches of transactions, each containing 546 satoshis, served to notify defendants about the claim.

According to Galaxy Research's Alex Thorn, the movement of the 1LwWt wallet suggests that these coins might not have been abandoned as previously presumed. He noted, "Apparently, they were not, in fact, abandoned." This shift came seven months after the lawsuit's notification campaigns and indicates that some historical Bitcoin addresses are still under the control of their original holders.

In a separate development, another dormant wallet dating back to 2011 also transferred 20 BTC to a Segregated Witness (SegWit) address approximately 13 hours before the 1LwWt transaction, per data from Arkham Intelligence. This wallet was not targeted in the notice campaign nor named in the lawsuit. The movements come during a Bitcoin price downturn, with BTC nearing $70,000, reflecting broader market trends influenced by significant recent events, such as ETF outflows and geopolitical developments. Satoshi-era coins, acquired when Bitcoin's value was negligible, stand to yield considerable profits if sold today, as their cost basis was virtually zero.