A long-dormant Bitcoin wallet created in 2011 has transferred its entire 75 BTC balance, valued at roughly $5 million, for the first time in more than 15 years. The transaction comes months after the address was named in a New York lawsuit seeking ownership of Bitcoin allegedly abandoned by unidentified holders.

On Thursday evening, the wallet’s controller moved all 75 BTC to a newly created address. The transaction also included a small Bitcoin deposit that lawyers had previously sent to the wallet as a formal notice about the legal proceedings.

The lawsuit was filed in New York by an individual identified as Noah Doe and two companies registered in Wyoming. The plaintiffs are asking the court to recognize their ownership of Bitcoin held across 39,069 wallet addresses, arguing that cryptocurrency left untouched for at least five years can be classified as abandoned property under New York law.

The legal claim involves approximately 3.8 million BTC, including holdings associated with Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. To reach the unidentified wallet owners, the court approved a notification process involving small Bitcoin transfers carrying links to the lawsuit’s legal documents, as previously reported by CoinDesk.

The recently activated wallet was identified as defendant No. 3,419 in the amended complaint. Its latest activity confirms that someone retains control of the private keys, although the transaction does not identify the individual behind the address. The movement also challenges the lawsuit’s argument that the Bitcoin had been abandoned.

75 BTC Transfer Also Moves Earlier Legal Notices

The wallet received 546 satoshis on May 22, worth less than 40 cents at recent prices. The transaction carried the message “COURT-ORDERED LEGAL NOTICE” and included a link to the plaintiffs’ legal notification website.

A satoshi is the smallest unit of Bitcoin, representing one-hundred-millionth of a BTC.

Thursday’s transaction combined the original 75 BTC with the legal notice payment and three other small deposits. One of those transfers contained a separate notification issued in July 2025 by Salomon Brothers Strategic Advisors, the consulting firm hired by the plaintiffs to contact wallet holders.

Because these smaller payments arrived independently of the wallet’s original holdings, the latest transaction consolidated all six amounts into a single transfer. This left the original address completely empty.

Other wallets identified in the lawsuit have also recorded transactions. In June, CoinDesk reported that an address holding 35.55 BTC since 2011 transferred 15 BTC and sent the remaining balance back to itself as change.

The 75 BTC had not moved from its new destination address as of Friday evening. While the transfer demonstrates that the funds remain accessible, it does not reveal who owns the wallet or whether the legal action prompted the transaction.

Even if the plaintiffs win the case, a court ruling would not automatically give them the private keys needed to access the Bitcoin. The complaint states that an expert retained by the plaintiffs valued the identified dormant wallets at less than $10 because recovering the funds remains highly uncertain.