Unraveling Bitcoin’s Legal Turmoil: An Unprecedented Dust Attack
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Bitcoin’s Unique Ownership Dispute: Dust Attack and Legal Notices
A little-known entity using the iconic “Salomon Brothers” moniker has sparked one of the most unusual ownership disputes in Bitcoin’s history. This controversy involves a massive “dusting” campaign targeting numerous legacy wallets with embedded on-chain “legal notices” through OP_RETURN messages. An in-depth investigative report by Galaxy Research suggests a coordinated effort, possibly setting the stage for abandoned-property claims. However, how a claimant could assume control of the coins without the private keys remains elusive.
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The Intricacies of the Bitcoin Dust Attack
Galaxy’s findings reveal that an anonymous and skilled entity dispatched 41,523 OP_RETURN messages from 3,738 sending addresses to 39,423 recipient addresses. Collectively, these addresses held approximately 2.334 million BTC at the time of targeting. Notably, 98.82% of these were legacy P2PKH addresses, characterized by prolonged inactivity, averaging around 2,171 days (approximately 5.95 years).
The campaign unfolded strategically over the summer months, beginning with test transactions in late June. These initial transactions lacked any links or references to “Salomon.” However, by July and August, the messages evolved to include all-caps “LEGAL NOTICE” language and URLs directing recipients to the Salomon Brothers’ website. Early operational missteps, such as a broken URL, were rectified as the campaign progressed through a systematic “test → blast → monitor → adjust” cycle.
Legal Notices and Constructive Possession
The legal notices directed recipients to a webpage, suggesting that the targeted wallet “appears to be lost or abandoned.” It further asserted that a Salomon client “has taken constructive possession of it.” Wallet owners were given ninety days to demonstrate control—either by moving funds on-chain or by submitting documentation. Failure to respond could be construed as evidence of relinquishment of all rights, title, and interest. As of Friday, October 10, 2025, the page mandates responses by that date.
“Constructive possession,” as explained by Cornell Law’s Legal Information Institute, involves having legal possession without direct physical control. For instance, someone with keys to a safe deposit box may have constructive possession of its contents. When applied to digital assets like Bitcoin, this analogy is provocative: on Bitcoin, control is cryptographic, not custodial, and “keys” represent the ability to sign transactions. Establishing constructive possession without a private key is, at a minimum, legally unprecedented.
Potential Legal Implications and Questions of Viability
Galaxy’s researchers emphasize that there is no evidence suggesting a flaw in the Bitcoin protocol or a private-key compromise. In fact, most targeted scripts (legacy P2PKH) are less vulnerable to certain hypothetical attacks than other address types. Nevertheless, the campaign’s scope and method—coupled with explicit deadlines and relinquishment language—hint that the organizer might pursue legal actions in jurisdictions with unclaimed-property laws applicable to digital assets.
Galaxy posits that the OP_RETURN campaign’s intent might be to stake legal claims on non-responsive wallets, although they caution that “the legal viability and possible reach” remain “questionable.”
Impact on Bitcoin’s On-Chain Activity
Coinciding with this campaign was renewed on-chain activity from at least one long-dormant Bitcoin holder. Shortly after some messages gained attention in early July, a wallet linked to an early adopter moved approximately 80,000 BTC. This movement fueled speculation that the dusting prompted dormant addresses to awaken. Whether this was causation, coincidence, or opportunistic timing, the episode underscored a truth unique to bearer crypto: proof of life is just an on-chain signature away.
Salomon’s Public Stance and Implications for Bitcoin Holders
Salomon’s public statements, as reflected on their website, frame the initiative as a compliance exercise “intended solely for the wallet owner.” They assert that the client “is not a hacker and is not phishing.” However, the notice warns that after the 90-day period, the “digital wallets and their contents will be considered abandoned” and cautions against any “trespass” without the client’s authorization—language likely to unsettle Bitcoin enthusiasts who view private keys as the ultimate authority on control.
Legal Challenges and the Future of Digital Asset Claims
The outcome of this situation will depend more on legal proceedings than technical solutions. In the United States, abandoned-property laws vary by state, and even where statutes acknowledge virtual currency, translating a court order into on-chain control is complex. Without private keys, a claimant cannot authorize transactions; without a willing custodian or intermediary, there is no off-chain mechanism to leverage. Galaxy concludes that while the strategy is sophisticated and not merely performative, converting “constructive possession” into spendable BTC would face significant practical and legal challenges.
For now, the dust has settled into a state of uncertainty. This campaign illustrates that OP_RETURN can convey more than memes—it can deliver quasi-legal processes at blockchain scale. Whether this message evolves beyond mere noise will test the limits between on-chain realities and off-chain assertions, and whether courts will attempt to bridge a divide that cryptography, by design, has made vast.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $121,614.
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