Overview
- The New York County Supreme Court signed a stay that was filed publicly on June 5 and blocked any default-judgment efforts until a July 14 hearing will decide whether to admit Ian R. Cohen’s amicus brief.
- Cohen’s proposed brief contends that Article 7-B was written for tangible found property and that algorithmic ledger scans and OP_RETURN on-chain notices do not make their author a lawful finder under New York law.
- Several long-dormant addresses named in the complaint moved on-chain after the case drew attention, including transactions on June 2 and June 6 that demonstrate active private-key control and weaken the plaintiffs’ abandonment claim.
- The plaintiffs say they used a proprietary algorithm to identify wallets, delivered USB lists to the NYPD’s 17th Precinct, and served OP_RETURN legal notices with a 90-day response window before suing for a declaratory judgment.
- Independent analysts estimate the named addresses hold roughly 3.7–3.8 million BTC while the complaint values each wallet under $10, a gulf that raises provenance and cross-jurisdictional conflicts and could create off-chain legal leverage over exchanges and custodians if a court issues a title declaration.