{"id":30054,"date":"2026-05-28T15:36:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T15:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/david-schwartz-criticizes-lawsuit-tied-to-satoshi-mt-gox-btc\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T15:36:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T15:36:31","slug":"david-schwartz-criticizes-lawsuit-tied-to-satoshi-mt-gox-btc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/david-schwartz-criticizes-lawsuit-tied-to-satoshi-mt-gox-btc\/","title":{"rendered":"David Schwartz criticizes lawsuit tied to Satoshi, Mt. Gox BTC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz has criticized a New York lawsuit seeking ownership of billions of dollars worth of dormant Bitcoin wallets, including addresses linked to Satoshi Nakamoto and the Mt. Gox hack.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_71d0da376461f0aaa3adea6ba654448b\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz criticized a New York lawsuit seeking control of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin wallets worth an estimated $286 billion.<\/li>\n<li>The lawsuit includes wallets linked to Satoshi Nakamoto and the \u201c1Feex\u201d address associated with the Mt. Gox hack, according to court filings.<\/li>\n<li>Schwartz warned that even a legally weak ruling could create problems if U.S. exchanges are asked to freeze funds from disputed wallets.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>According to court filings shared online, plaintiff Noah Doe and two Wyoming-based entities identified as ABC Company and XYZ Company asked a New York court to transfer control of 39,069 inactive Bitcoin wallets that reportedly hold nearly 3.7 million BTC, valued at about $286 billion at current prices.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A Wyoming LLC filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court seeking ownership of 39,069 Bitcoin wallets it claims are abandoned property.<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiff, operating under the pseudonym &#8220;Noah Doe,&#8221; says he built an algorithm to identify dormant Bitcoin wallets that have been inactive\u2026 <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5RX7oUpmiZ\">pic.twitter.com\/5RX7oUpmiZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 TFTC (@TFTC21) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TFTC21\/status\/2059677047124049983?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The filing argues the wallets qualify as abandoned property under New York law because the original owners allegedly cannot access or use the funds due to a technical flaw. Plaintiffs also claimed the addresses had been reported to the New York Police Department, comparing the dormant Bitcoin to unclaimed bank assets or lost property.<\/p>\n<p>Among the wallets listed in the 901-page declaration are addresses associated with Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. The filing also references the \u201c1Feex\u201d wallet, which blockchain researchers and crypto investigators have previously tied to funds stolen during the Mt. Gox breach.<\/p>\n<p>In <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JoelKatz\/status\/2059908968613548493\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">posts<\/a> shared on X on May 28, Schwartz challenged the legal foundation of the case and questioned how a New York court could claim authority over Bitcoin wallets with unknown owners spread across a decentralized network.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most serious flaw in the suit is that jurisdiction is supposedly based on the fact that \u2018the found property that is the subject of this suit is situated here,\u201d wrote Schwartz.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Schwartz says jurisdiction argument could create enforcement issues<\/h2>\n<p>While dismissing the core legal argument, Schwartz warned that the lawsuit could still create practical problems for Bitcoin holders if a court issued a favorable ruling before the case faced serious opposition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are many significant legal problems with the suit,\u201d Schwartz wrote on social media. He added that the argument claiming the property was \u201cfound\u201d in New York was \u201ccomically bad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Schwartz said exchanges and custodians could still face pressure if funds from one of the disputed wallets eventually moved through a U.S.-based platform. According to Schwartz, the plaintiffs might attempt to freeze assets by arguing the Bitcoin legally belonged to them under the court order.<\/p>\n<p>Even if another court later decided the ruling lacked jurisdiction, Schwartz warned procedural delays could complicate efforts to overturn the decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven though the NY ruling should be considered void ab initio due to no jurisdiction, it\u2019s not entirely inconceivable that a US court may find that due to the passage of time, the claim that the ruling is void was procedurally defaulted,\u201d Schwartz wrote.<\/p>\n<p>He added that, under such circumstances, plaintiffs could \u201cconceivably, wind up stealing people\u2019s crypto.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Near the end of the discussion, Schwartz said he hoped industry participants and affected parties were paying close attention to the case before any ruling advanced further through the legal system.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ripple executive has recently weighed in on other crypto policy debates<\/h2>\n<p>Schwartz has recently taken part in several public discussions involving crypto regulation, taxation, and XRP Ledger governance.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this week, Schwartz debated crypto tax expert Clinton Donnelly over how staking rewards should be taxed if XRP Ledger ever introduced a staking-style mechanism. Although XRPL does not support native staking, Schwartz argued that rewards created directly through a protocol process should not automatically count as taxable income before they are sold.<\/p>\n<p>In comments posted on X, Schwartz compared newly minted rewards to handmade property, writing that taxing them immediately would be similar to taxing \u201ca sweater\u201d before its creator sold it.<\/p>\n<p>The Ripple executive has also commented on proposed XRP Ledger amendments and network upgrades in recent months, particularly around governance rules and technical changes affecting the ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Schwartz is not the only figure to raise concerns about attempts to target dormant Bitcoin linked to Satoshi Nakamoto.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, LayerTwo Labs chief executive Paul Sztorc faced criticism after <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Truthcoin\/status\/2047641023313047767\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">discussing<\/a> a Bitcoin hard fork proposal that some community members believed could put Satoshi\u2019s estimated 1.1 million BTC at risk. Sztorc later distanced himself from any plan to seize those holdings.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz has criticized a New York lawsuit seeking ownership of billions of dollars worth of dormant Bitcoin wallets, including addresses linked to Satoshi Nakamoto and the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30056,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30054\/revisions\/30056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}