SAN JOSE (LN) — A Northern District of California judge on Sunday granted a plaintiff’s emergency motion for early discovery and alternative service of process, approving the novel use of a non-fungible token to notify an anonymous defendant alleged to have stolen nearly $5 million in cryptocurrency.
U.S. District Judge Diane Y. Byun issued the order in the case of Mohan Trikha v. John Doe, ruling that serving the unidentified defendant via a non-fungible token sent to specific blockchain wallet addresses was "reasonably calculated" to provide notice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(f)(3).
The order came in a case where Trikha alleged he was victimized by a government impersonation scam in early 2026. According to the complaint, the defendant falsely claimed affiliation with Delhi law enforcement and the Indian consulate, convincing Trikha to liquidate assets and transfer funds into cryptocurrency.
Trikha’s declaration stated the defendant pressured him into transferring approximately $4.99 million through brokerage platforms and wire transfers between March and April 2026. The funds were converted to Bitcoin and moved to digital wallets controlled by the defendant.
Blockchain analytics traced the stolen assets to four intermediate destination addresses, which were subsequently consolidated into two private digital wallets. As of May 18, 2026, those wallets held a total of 71.777448 BTC.
The court found that traditional service was impracticable because the defendant’s identity and physical address were unknown. Byun noted that the Hague Service Convention does not apply where the address of the person to be served is not known, allowing the court to approve alternative methods consistent with constitutional due process.
The order specified that Trikha must serve an NFT containing a notice of the action, a hyperlink to the summons and complaint, and all filings. The NFT must display an image of the summons on its face and include messaging indicating it is an official court document to mitigate the risk of the defendant perceiving it as a scam.
Service is deemed effective upon the successful transfer of the NFT to the identified wallet addresses.
The judge also granted limited early discovery, allowing Trikha to subpoena cryptocurrency exchanges and blockchain service providers to identify the defendant and trace the movement of the stolen assets. The court declined to require a bond at this time, citing the defendant’s unknown identity and lack of evidence that he would suffer damages from the injunction.
The order cited FBI statistics showing that elder fraud losses exceeded $7.7 billion in 2025, with over $4.3 billion attributable to cryptocurrency transactions.
Trikha’s attorney, David C. Silver, certified in writing that efforts to provide notice to the adverse party were not made because doing so would likely cause the defendant to dissipate the assets.
The temporary restraining order expires within 14 days of entry, pending further proceedings to identify the defendant.