A legal dispute before the Supreme Court of Mauritius has brought attention to an extraordinary cryptocurrency claim involving approximately 155,000 Bitcoin, valued at around €1.617 billion or Rs 88.2 billion. The case involves a company in liquidation that alleges computer equipment connected to the digital assets became unusable while in police custody. The defendants dispute liability and key aspects of the claimed amount and valuation.
The scale of the claim becomes apparent when compared to some of the world's largest Bitcoin addresses. According to a ChainQuery Bitcoin blockchain snapshot dated September 14, 2026, the five largest individual addresses held approximately 248,598 BTC, 219,060 BTC, 140,850 BTC, 130,010 BTC, and 96,932 BTC. A holding of approximately 155,000 BTC would exceed the current balances of the third, fourth, and fifth largest addresses on that list.
Bitcoin itself is not physically stored on a laptop or hard drive. Instead, a Bitcoin wallet manages private cryptographic keys that authorize transactions involving bitcoins recorded on the blockchain. If the private keys are destroyed, the bitcoins could become inaccessible, but destroying a computer does not erase the bitcoins or their historical transactions from the blockchain.
The relevant question in this case is: Which Bitcoin addresses were allegedly controlled by the wallet, and what did those addresses contain at the relevant dates? Public Bitcoin addresses could allow independent experts to examine the balances, transaction history, and movement of the alleged assets without revealing the confidential private keys.
Blockchain evidence alone cannot automatically prove real-world ownership; that would require additional evidence linking the addresses or private keys to the claimant. However, the blockchain record can provide important information about the existence and movement of the claimed assets.
The reported Rs 88.2 billion claim remains a matter for the Supreme Court, and neither the allegations nor the defendants' responses should be presented as established fact before the evidence is tested. The central technical question is: If approximately 155,000 BTC existed under the claimed control, where is the corresponding evidence on Bitcoin's public blockchain?
Bitcoin provides an independent and permanent public transaction ledger, which can be examined through public blockchain explorers such as mempool.space and Blockstream Explorer. This allows for an independent assessment of the claim and can help answer important questions about the alleged assets.
Key points
- The claim involves approximately 155,000 Bitcoin, valued at around Rs 88.2 billion.
- The defendants dispute liability and key aspects of the claimed amount and valuation.
- The case raises questions about the existence of corresponding blockchain evidence for the claimed assets.
