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Ledger’s chief technology officer, Charles Guillemet, has addressed the crypto community in light of the recent sensational transfers of almost $9 billion worth of Bitcoin from Satoshi-era wallets.
In his tweet, he unveiled a surprising development that preceded those mammoth Bitcoin moves and offered possible explanations.
Mysterious message of "legal notice" - Were wallets truly abandoned?
Charles Guillemet stated that several days before the aforementioned transfers from eight 2011 wallets took place, those Bitcoin addresses received an enigmatic message of legal notice, claiming that the sender had taken possession of those wallets, considering them to be abandoned. He/she offered to prove that those BTC wallets still have active owners — they should make an on-chain transaction using their private keys no later than Sept. 30.
This message was published on a website belonging to the legal firm “Solomon Brothers.” It also states: “Our client seeks ownership rights to the digital wallet for which no valid owner responds prior to October 5, 2025.” Their “client” seeks true owners of these wallets; otherwise he/she will expropriate that BTC: “Our client reserves all rights and will act to defend its rights against any trespasser.”
“If no response is received, the digital wallets and their contents, will be considered to be confirmed as abandoned.” Guillemet stated that this could hardly be legal at all.
Guillemet says wallets were not hacked
The Ledger CTO then continued, saying that he does not believe that those eight wallets were hacked, saying that while it is possible, it is “highly unlikely.” However, he said, the above-mentioned message was sent not only to these eight wallets but “broadcast to many of the top dormant BTC addresses.”
As for the explanations, he says, it was a) “Pure coincidence: the timing may be random,” and b) The real owner of the wallets with 80,000 BTC saw that message and withdrew their dormant billions of dollars in Bitcoin from them as a precaution.
Another possibility, per Guillemet, is “Some of these addresses might have a dubious origin, and someone is trying to fabricate a narrative of hacking to avoid proving the legitimate source of the funds.”
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team