Experts called the Salomon Brothers initiative an attack on bitcoin

# Experts have called the Salomon Brothers initiative an attack on Bitcoin.

The news is being updated. The initiative of Salomon Brothers bank to claim rights to "abandoned" bitcoin wallets through transactions with OP_RETURN is a legally and technically failed idea. This opinion was expressed in a comment to ForkLog by the experts surveyed.

In their opinion, the "doctrine of abandonment of property" is inapplicable to cryptocurrency addresses, and the idea itself contradicts the fundamental principles of blockchain.

Legal Vacuum and Anonymity

Web3 researcher Vladimir Menaskop considers the initiative illegal. According to him, bitcoin cannot be considered "national" property, and the blockchain itself requires new international law that has not yet been created.

"Is this legal? No, because this property cannot even be verified as 'national'. Is it legal? No, because there must be clear and explicitly expressed consent from the network participants," he stated.

The expert added that the attempt to establish jurisdiction over an anonymous owner is a direct blow to the fundamental principles of decentralization and anonymity. Any verification will force the user to reveal themselves.

Inability to Prove and Improper Notification

The key issue is to prove that the address is indeed abandoned and not used for long-term storage. Menascope cited personal savings from the early mining era as an example.

"Why should I transfer these funds somewhere for verification that this is not a 'lost' address? There is a dilemma: I will transfer the funds to a new address, but where is the guarantee that due to UTXO mechanics I won't get a 'sanctions' label?" — explained the researcher.

The notification via OP_RETURN is also considered legally void by the expert. He reminded about the unsuccessful attempt in South Korea to send a court decision through a transaction in the TRON network.

"Blockchain is not a messenger. The court must recognize such notification as insufficient. Not everyone can view transactions in order to receive it in principle," emphasized Menaskop.

In conclusion, the researcher referred to the initiative as an "act of hard centralization" that undermines the main principle of Bitcoin: "your keys — your money."

System Test and Bank Motives

Libertarian economist Evgeny Romanenko sees the actions of Salomon Brothers as an attempt to test the US judicial system and "apply the rules of the old world to the new."

In his opinion, even if the court recognizes the bank's right to the bitcoins, it will only be a record on paper, as the private keys will remain with the actual owners.

"Are they planning to 'stake' these rights for the future? So that later, when these bitcoins are moved by their true owners and surface somewhere, lawyers will accuse the new owners of theft? This is an attempt to seize bitcoins through the judicial system," — suggested Romanenko.

It should be noted that CryptoQuant stated that operations with "sleeping" coins have become systemic: since 2023, the average monthly transaction volume of "old" bitcoins has increased from 4,900 BTC to 30,700 BTC.