NY Man Seeks $286 Billion in Bitcoin Through Loophole

A lawsuit has been filed in the Supreme Court of New York seeking to claim nearly $286 billion worth of Bitcoin.

The plaintiff, identified only as 'Noah Doe,' claims that the Bitcoin is lost property under state law and can be claimed through a legal loophole. According to the complaint, Doe's lawyers built an algorithm to scan the blockchain and identify 39,069 dormant wallets containing approximately 3.79 million BTC.

The lawsuit relies on New York Personal Property Law Article 7-B, which allows individuals to claim lost property if they report it to the police and wait for a specified time frame. However, Doe only waited 19 months before filing the complaint, raising questions about his eligibility to make a claim under this law.

The plaintiff's argument that he has a legitimate claim to the Bitcoin is based on the fact that he turned in USB drives containing references to the wallets to the NYPD, which were later returned. His lawyers argue that the statute of limitations for claiming lost property should be applied not to the Bitcoin itself but to the USB drives.

However, the lawsuit faces significant challenges as Doe lacks private keys to access the wallets, and it is unlikely that a court would allow him to claim the Bitcoin through this loophole. The Bitcoin stays exactly where it is, at least for now.