Executive Summary
Salomon Brothers, a purportedly revived financial entity, initiated a widespread dusting campaign targeting 39,423 dormant Bitcoin wallets holding an aggregate of 2.3 million BTC. This action, communicated via OP_RETURN messages, asserts "constructive possession" under various U.S. state abandoned property laws, creating significant market uncertainty.
The Event in Detail
An actor associated with a revived Salomon Brothers entity executed a complex, multi-phase dusting campaign, sending 41,523 OP_RETURN messages to thousands of dormant Bitcoin addresses. These addresses, predominantly P2PKH types, had been inactive for an average of nearly six years and collectively held approximately 2.3 million BTC. The messages directed recipients to a website, salomonbros[.]com/owner_notice, where the entity claims constructive possession of these wallets, citing abandoned property laws. Owners were provided a 90-day period, until October 5, 2025, to prove ownership by either signing an on-chain transaction or submitting personal information through a web form.
The campaign notably targeted high-value dormant wallets, including the 1Feex wallet, which holds nearly 80,000 BTC associated with the Mt. Gox theft from March 2011. Despite the widespread notices, only 0.31% of the dusted addresses, representing 6.06% of the total BTC value, subsequently moved their coins. This leaves an estimated 1.92 million BTC potentially subject to these claims.
Market Implications
The Salomon Brothers initiative introduces substantial legal and market implications for the Web3 ecosystem and self-custodied digital assets. The legal viability of using on-chain messages as formal legal notices and subsequently enforcing claims over self-custodied crypto without private keys is highly questionable, presenting an unprecedented legal challenge. This event could establish a significant global legal precedent for how abandoned self-custodied digital assets are treated, potentially influencing future regulatory frameworks and cold storage practices.
Since 2023, the average monthly volume of transactions involving "old" bitcoins has increased from 4,900 BTC to 30,700 BTC, indicating a broader trend of activity around dormant holdings. This campaign further amplifies scrutiny on these assets and the legal gray areas surrounding their ownership.
Blockchain analysts have expressed strong skepticism regarding the Salomon Brothers claims. BitMEX Research characterized the setup as a "Calvin Ayre-style legal scam," drawing parallels to past attempts by Craig Wright to seize Mt. Gox coins through novel legal theories. Security analyst @0xZilayo explicitly labeled the OP_RETURN notices as "most definitely phishing attempts and have no legitimacy." BitMEX Research issued a direct warning: "Do NOT fill in this form." They advised that anyone receiving such a message can prove control by moving funds to a fresh wallet, while those without private keys have nothing to gain by responding. David Carvalho, CEO of Naoris Protocol, noted that Salomon Brothers is using the Bitcoin infrastructure as a "bulletin board," highlighting the firm's targeting of large wallets.
Broader Context
This event unfolds amidst a developing legal landscape for digital assets. Several U.S. states, including New York, California, Arizona, and North Dakota, have begun classifying virtual currency as reportable unclaimed property. These states have established dormancy periods ranging from three to five years, with requirements for holders to remit either the asset itself or its value. For instance, California's amended Senate Bill 822 includes "digital financial assets," while North Dakota requires liquidation prior to remittance.
Globally, legal systems are adapting to blockchain technology. Recent cases in Hong Kong and the UK High Court have allowed the service of legal documents, including injunctions, via tokenized notices sent to crypto wallet addresses. While these precedents demonstrate the recognition of on-chain communications within legal processes, they typically pertain to known fraud cases or injunctions against identified parties, rather than claims of ownership over self-custodied assets based on abandonment without established legal precedent.
The proposed BITCOIN Act of 2025 in the U.S. Congress, which aims to explicitly endorse the self-custody of Bitcoin and other digital assets, underscores the ongoing debate over financial sovereignty and individual control of private keys. This legislative push for clarity around self-custody contrasts sharply with the Salomon Brothers' attempt to claim dormant assets, highlighting fundamental tensions in the evolving regulatory and legal treatment of digital property.
Edgen Crypto·Oct 09 2025, 02:59