Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin is invented by Satoshi Nakamoto but it is common knowledge that his identity is not known.If there arise any dispute related to bitcoin or its ownership,how would it be settled by court of law or in other words who is the legal owner of bitcoin?

Bitcoin doesn't care about laws. All it cares about is ethics.

Hi Wapinter,

Regulators will vary on a per-country basis, but you can expect to see national financial regulators interested in bitcoin and other virtual currencies, potentially along with regional regulators at a sub-country level.

Please view below useful link.

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_bitcoin_by_country

Congressional Research Service
=========================

2)https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43339.pdf

Thank you
CryptoJeweler

The legal owner of any bitcoin is the person holding the private key of the address which contains those bitcoins. That's it.

Don't need court or anyone else to decide that.

there is no legal owner of bitcoin that's the beauty, bitcoin is not the owner only the creator, which mean nothing in the end

and those 50 coins in the first block are not spendable anyway

As others have said, it is irrelevant that Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin. He is not the owner.
If he patented it or it's systems, then yes, it would actually hold some weight in courts with ownership.

If there arises a concern in court of any ownership of specific coins, the way that bitcoin is designed is that
whoever has control over the private key to that specific address, is the owner of those specific bitcoins.

The court would not be needed to determine who "rightfully owns" the coins,
since you either control them or you do not.

In law, the court is not needed to determine who "rightfully owns" the money in a bank account,
unless it is a joint account shared between two parties (husband & wife).
In the event of a joint account, different determinations are applied to divide funds.

Does it mean anyone can use bitcoin name and its symbol for any commercial and non commercial purpose without the fear on being sued?

Yes. You can use the name (Bitcoin/bitcoin) and symbol (BTC) anyway you wish.

Though bitcoin could take real damage from some country allowing some company to trademark bitcoin or something similar. They could block the use or charge fees for it. Of course people could still use it but not publicly in that country.

Nobody ows the Bitcoin and nobody controls it. Not in a sense of one central body or institution.

me, becauuse i own a part of it, if you also own some of it, then you are also owner.

im the owner to ? lol  ::)

if you have bitcoin, then yes.

Bitcoin is a corporation, and every bitcoin owner is a shareholder.

You need to read abit more, bitcoin is owned by no one and cant be controlled by anybody apart from those who use it.  Even if Satoshi came back tomorrow, he cant control and dosnt own it either.

bitcoin a corporation? never heard of a decentralized corporation, bitcoin is monetary system and nothing else

Five or six guys in China who are told what to do by some pointy beards in the US?

all the people who have bitcoin is owner bitcoin. Satoshi is founder.

nobody owned it, it's a cryptocurrencies,if fiat owned by government and distributed to its civillian,bitcoin firstly created by satoshi nakamoto and distributed to the users,bitcoin function near to fiat because it's currency

Bitcoin belongs to its users, which are we. We own the system and not much can be done to stop bitcoin. Not from the inside nor the outside. It probably is the first currency that is owned by no one. Except maybe shell money on some islands. :D

From a perspective of someone living in the U.S. The bitcoins or fraction of bitcoin you own are yours.  You can do whatever you want with it as long as what you're buying/selling is not illegal.

It is the same as U.S. fiat: you can take a dollar and light it on fire, and it is legal (as long as you don't cause a forest fire). 

So far, in the U.S., it is mostly legal to buy and invest (check with state laws first).  When it comes to selling, however, it becomes a gray area in a couple of ways:

1)  How is it taxed? I believe any profit is taxed as capital gains.  But what if you trade bitcoins for a living?  Do you have to then pay income tax?

2)  What kind of licensing do you need?  MSB, MTL?  None?  Based on my own forum reading on trading sites, it seems as though there is no clear answer.  Traders are currently on the bleeding edge of owning to selling, then back to owning and back to selling, and on and on. 

I think pending and future litigation will determine who owns bitcoin, and after you've owned and either spent or resold, what kind of taxes can be levied on it.

It is a common knowledge that Satoshi created bitcoin,if in future he claimed his ownership on it and move the court to seek legal interference in getting back all coins in circulation or stored,what would possibly court rule?

He would not have success.
Bitcoin has been published as Open source protocol. Basically no way of someone "owning" it atm

Exactly, you are the owner, I am the owner, my uncle is the owner.  We are all bitcoin - decentralized.

Bitcoin is assumed to be decentralized so it is owned by all who hold bitcoin.  However, if we look at the distribution of bitcoin, then we could safely deduce that bitcoin is held by a minority of early adopters who held onto their coin or who had invested it wisely.  So, that begs the question....is bitcoin decentralized in the truest sense of the definition?

Everyone owns bitcoin as long as you have an address with 1 satoshi in it holding the private you owned it.
Satoshi Nakamoto left 2010 but he dont own bitcoin just the concept.

Everyone can be one of the owners. It is governed by the rules of mathematics. If the encryption is cracked one day, bitcoin is done.

Dubai is not included

Every user/participant who is having some bitcoins, meaning holding the private keys, is an owner of Bitcoin!
I guess this will be the majority here.

The perfect aspect of the digital currency (Bitcoin is the mother of all) that no law , government ,or policy can prevent you from using bitcoin so this mean everyone participate in the blockchain is the owner of bitcoin.

Does that mean bitcoin is allow in Dubai?

Simple, the answer is "Us". We own Bitcoin, just check your wallet and you'll see that there's a Bitcoin in it.

Good to hear that and that's also relieving. You guys got me scared for seconds

I think you guys didn't get my question.It is obvious that who ever earned,mined or colllects bitcoin legally owns it just like anything else.But bitcoin is different in a sense that it wasn't sold or given away by its inventor.Instead it is generated by mining and since Satoshi proposed white paper on bitcoin,he has the first right on all bitcoins

I think you need to watch:
Udemy The Complete Bitcoin Course.. you can find it on youtube  ;)

They explain in the first 2 minutes who owns bitcoin. No one!  :D

He is not talking about who own bitcoin. I think what he's trying to emphasizes is the uniqueness in bitcoin and how the miner are the one who ripe the fruit of every satoshi they mine not the inventor.

nothing will happe, satoshi cant do that . miners have the proof of work, so they own bitcoins . and so do we buying bitcoins become the owner.

It is free for use for everyone. Bitcoin tech in this case - blockchain was never patented and it is completely open source project. Therefore is not own by anyone or anything.

Is Bitcoin is not a registered name? what about the bitcoin symbol? is it a registered trademark?

I think a dispute can arise only between btc wallet owners and not the owner of btc. If it involves a software development mishap, then the developer will be taken to court, not Satoshi.

All bitcoin users own it. ;)

all the people who have bitcoin is owner bitcoin. Satoshi is founder.

Wait. I don't get what you're trying to say when you Satoshi Nakamoto left. Does that mean he just created bitcoin but not interested in having a coin or something?

What is a Satoshi?

Satoshi is the founder of Bitcoin, also Satoshi is the smallest amount of bitcoin, 100.000.000 Satoshis=1 Bitcoin.

Yep, the founder. But not at all the owner. Cause that's the idea here, for it to be promoted as an actual currency means. Noone really earns any currency for himself.

This is like asking who owns the dollar currency. If you've got a dollar in your pocket, who owns it? The government? No. The one who manufactured it? No. The only owner of your money is yourself. No matter who's idea it is, no matter who manufactured it, it's all yours.

We are the owner of our bitcoin. Satoshi is just the founder of bitcoin not the owner of it.

Anyone who earns bit coin can become the owner of bit coin. Everyone have the equal chance to become the owner of bit coin

I think the OP is confused when it is said "who owns bitcoin".
He thinks that Satoshi Nakamoto owns most of bitcoin but this is not known. He is the inventor but since he wanted bitcoin to be a free digital currency from any laws that is not the case of being the owner of bitcoin.
It is distributed among all not to just one individual.

Thats not true.The dollar bill in your pocket is not owned by you it is owned by federal government and you only have the right to use it

I meant to ask who has the legal rights on bitcoin name and its technology.I understand that the amount of bitcoin one possess is owned by him but what if Satoshi move the court of law and demand all bitcoins be return to him because he invented it.What would the court rule?

Nobody is an owner of Bitcoin, nobody controls it and also it's not a corporation, company, etc. It's just an innovative monetary sistem in which anybody who earns bit coin is a part of the system and owner of Bitcoin.

It seems to totally depend on where you live. Some countries pretend it doesn't exist and there aren't any set laws to who owns the Bitcoin. Other countries consider Bitcoin an asset that can gain/lose value over time.

The whole idea with Bitcoin is that no one can control it though. In order for some to seize your coins if they 'aren't legally yours' would be to get your private keys. They can't just walk into the bank, show some legal documents an have everything sent over to them.

You said "Nobody is an owner of bitcoin" at the start and at the end you said "who earns bitcoin is a part of the system and owner of Bitcoin". I don't get it and I'm confused. You might wanna rephrase this, mate. :D




Does that mean all of us doesn't own money? ::) Does that mean that, me and the entire population except for the government is no owner of any fiat money? If you accidentally dropped a dollar and someone else pick it up, don't you say "That's mine."?

Please elaborate more your answer 'coz I found this interesting. :D

Bitcoin doesn't care about laws nor ethics.

Should a court issue arise over btc, the person who defaulted will be charged to court, not Satoshi or any btc owner. They did not break the law by creating btc.

But nothing is above law.Either we obey law or else face the consequences.Nobody can say that bitcoin doesn't care about law so even it is illegal in my country, I will continue using it

What are you trying to say?   All the people who have bitcoin is called for me "Bitcoin User" why ? Because all who have bitcoin they always use it, spend it . Satoshi is the creator of bitcoin for me this thread is non sense. This is the Question that have sense, who is satoshi? What his age right now? How many bitcoin that he have right now? Thats the best thread about life of Satoshi

LOL talking big about nonsense while saying nonsense stuffs. Oh well, to answer your questions.

Not to be rude or smth, all of your questions can be answered if you just make a quick search on google. But I'll put them here for you with reference.


Satoshi Nakamoto is the founder/creator of bitcoin. The sole reason why are we discussing this thread right now. He made this forum so people can talk about the precious coin he made. People believe he's Japanese, some people believe Satoshi Nakamoto is just the name used by a group of people who made bitcoin.


According to Wikipedia, he's 37 years old. Link here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoshi_Nakamoto) just in case people ask for source.


Around 1.5M BTC were created in February 2009. It was discussed in this forum a long time ago. Thread here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=37333.0)

It would seem as though any and all that hold bitcoins are the owners, share owners, of bitcoins.
The internet started out in much the same way as bitcoins has.
The more people that use it the bigger it grows to...

Automatically the owner of a wallet load with bitcoin or the person who control a wallet load with bitcoin is the owner of the Bitcoin inside the wallet account not Satoshi.

I think this is exactly revolutionary on BTC that will make the whole society to function in a new way. BTC a chance to change life for better , including laws,  without bloody revolutions..

Question about bitcoin ownership is only showing us that people are not used to decentralized model of economy. They think - if someone invented it then he/she owns it.
In old centralized model it is true, but bitcoin works totally different. Sometimes is really hard for me to convince people that there is no hidden agenda in bitcoin  and coins are fully under people's control.

Bitcoin has no legal owner. The prosecutor and the defendant are the ones to appear before the judge.

The case will be reviewed without a "bitcoin owner."

Pascal developed a mechanical calculator... Who is the owner of all the calculators in the world? Your question is as good as the one I mentioned. See, now no one owns all the calculators in the world. Each calculator is owned by each person.

Bitcoin's example is similar to that. It has once been invented, and now no one owns it. You own only your bitcoin wallet like I own mine.

Yes, Mr. Satoshi Nakamoto invented/created the bitcoin, such a brilliant mind.  I have read that he left the project in 2010 without identifying himself to the public.  Maybe he already earned/paid much more to the bitcoin he developed or created.

Only God Knows  ::)

to me it is a good point about bitcoin that no one know the owner of bitcoin. and so no one can claim that he is the owner of bitcoin. that is really important and plus point about bitcoin. and that is the reason that we can say that bitcoin has become a universal currency.

i think no one know the fact that who owns bitcoin. these are just speculation and expectation. no one know the fact. but my personal view is that the society owns bitcoin. the people who use it and holding it is the owner. so i can say that i am the owner of my bitcoin and no one has the right to get it from me  just like dollar.

to me i dont believe that bitcoin belong to someone. i think every is the owner of bitcoin he has. it is a univesal currency and it is not belong to a particular person. i think no one can claim that he owns bitcoin and that the plus point of bitcoin that even now no one really know about the founder of bitcoin.

No one owns bitcoins, should a legal problem arise in future, the person who has the bitcoins would be sued not the inventor of bitcoin.

and why are people asking about the owner of the bitcoin. is it important to know about the owner of bitcoin. my personal view is that it is not important to know about the owner of bitcoin. he invented the currency and thats enough and now i am earning it like other fiat currency. so i think i am  the owner of my currency and so every one is .

i think these are just the speculation and no one still know who is satoshi nakamoto and where he is from? so i think it may be a false news and there will be no reality in it. because you can see so many people here who are claiming that they are satoshi and they have invested bitcoin.

You do, I do, we all do.  ???

very good. in simple words that every one is the owner of the bitcoins one has. and no other one is the owner of bitcoin. some people says that satoshi is the owner of bitcoin but i dont think so i think he is just the fonder and the owner of bitcoin.

i dont think there is any legal owner of bitcoin nobody controls it not any person or any government . It is equal for all of us thats why we all love it

No one owns the protocol if that's what you mean, as it is open source. But everyone that has coins 'owns' a piece of bitcoin. It can probably be argued, however, that those who control the mining ultimately control the fate of the coin. Ask China ;)

This is the question of time :D Everyone says his name but I don't know how it's near to trust.

But I have one question, can the author of bitcoin to controll this coin? And did he can to create a huge amount of bitcoin without mining and etc.????

infarct he cannot do so. and i personally think that now there is no owner of bitocin. it is free and uncontrollable. it is now an open currency and every one has the right to earn it. i am the owner of bitcoin i have in preset time and no satoshi matoshi can take it from me.

Why are they not spendable?

yes that is a fact i also think that no one can claim that he is the owner of bitcoin. i think that is a universal currency and it belong to every one. a person is the owner of bitcoin what he has. so bitcoin is a universal currency and every one has the equal right to keep it or to use it as he wish.

No one is the owner of bitcoin as a single owner, but it is a currency for which we all are the owners who have them in their wallets, only those are not the owners who do not have that currency in their wallets.

Whoa I wouldn't have even thought of those scenarios, simplest answer is that since there's no regulation then nothing is held over you. There are cons to having no regulation though, if you need something to do with credit then you can't up and say "I'm a BTC seller" because companies just want info and history to know you'll pay them back. I think that by the time there is enough regulation for America to tax BTC that those that are taking advantage of scenario 1 will find another way though. There are always loopholes.

yes that is the fact and every one has the right to use the bitcoin according to their own wishes. if he really want to use it or to save it and hold for the price increase. so i every one is free to decide what he really want to do.

yes i am agree with you i think there is no single bitcoin owner. all bitcoin are not the property of a single person. but a person is the owner of such bitcoin which he is holding.

I have some coins, you have some coins, they have some coins... Looks like everyone owns a little parts of bitcoin. And with simple words miner's are holding everything together. Like someone said above you need to own your private key's and only then you are true owner of your coins.
Bitcoin is still decentralized, and as long its like that people across the world owns bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto made this for all of us, and nobody can say will it change one day. People talk about it and you can fins some interesting comments here about it, but for now nothing is for sure. We can make prediction's, and wild guesses but only time will tell what will happen.

interesting some people think about bitcoin that it is the property of satoshi who invented it but i think that no now it is no longer remain his property and now it is the property of those who have it.

there is not a single owner of bitcoin. i think the one who has the bitocn he is the owner of his bitcoin.

that is the beauty of bitcoin that the one who has the currency is the owner. some people have doubt that what will happen if satoshi decide to round off the bitcoin but i think now it is not the property of satoshi he has no right to round off it now bitcoin has become a global currency and no one has the right or power to end it therefore we can say that bitcoin is very reliable and trustworthy.

yes it is right to say that bitcoin is not the property of a single person but the fact is the that it is the property of those people who own this just like gold and silver, so we can say that bitcoin is some thing different from the fiat currency that is the property of the sate and one cannot carry the money from one country to another without paying the tax,

I don't think someone can "own" Bitcoin, but I think it's wrong to think that bitcoins can't be restricted by law or can't be touched at all, like many people think, don't be so reckless on judging powers beyond you.
Bitcoins, even if in a different way, are money and money is power. There is no power without control and the more it grows, the more someone will try to control it.

yes that may be right bot the fact is that there bitcoin is not a regional currency or some one know that who is controlling it, i think that there is different between controlling and management, i think these people are managing bitcoin and not controlling it. and that si the reason that more people are believing on bitcoin. if they know about the fact that bitcoin is control by some one then no one will be ready to use it.

i don't see why a senior member has to ask such a question.

A quirk in the original codebase. Why is the quirk there? That we don't know. Satoshi never mentioned it.

http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/10009/why-can-t-the-genesis-block-coinbase-be-spent
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1nc13r/the_first_50btc_block_reward_cant_be_spend_why/
https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/9546a977d354b2ec6cd8455538e68fe4ba343a44/src/main.cpp#L1668 - Genesis block transaction treated as a special case in the reference code

It is true we don't know for sure, but in theory:
The Genesis should not have any spendable coins since it was auto generated and not actually mined.
The Genesis is considered "Block Zero" and for Bitcoin mining to be seen as "fair" early on, the Genesis
should not have awarded Satoshi 50btc just for the sake of starting the blockchain. Each "award" needs
to be backed by work.

So the 50btc within the Genesis block is an error, since there was to be a 21 million coin cap, and due to
that slight error, we will only have a spendable 20,999,950 bitcoins.

Edit: fixed spendable number typo

Someone who doesn't want you to believe that it can have one owner.

Everybody tells that bitcoin has no owner like parrots. Where is the proof? There isn't one. Bitcoin maybe has no "one" owner, maybe it does. One thing is for sure, bitcoin isn't made by coinsidence. It wasn't someone's college homework. It's a project which planned very well and i guess it has something to do with the U.S. government. I am telling this not because i have evidence, but i know that USA is having problems with USD and its value. Everybody knows that there are more USD than there should be. Maybe they brought up bitcoin just for that purpose, who knows...

I think that Satoshi was a conglomerate of different people (possible around the world) working towards a better currency that can be used globally and not owned by one single person (the ownership rights to it) so that is why he/she/they wish to stay anonymous. :)

lol haahhah  ;D

it's a wrong question,,who owns bitcoin'' . every people that have Bitcoin in his wallet it's an owner of Bitcoin

Anyone who possesses bitcoin is its owner.Even Satoshi cannot claim to own all bitcoins as he himself made them available to general public by selling,gifting or mining them

Bitcoin owner is a man who owns Bitcoins should not be writing about it somewhere

Bitcoin is not a brand or carporate entity.It is not either a tangible thing.It is owned by anyone who owns it and once it changes hands,its owner also change

so? no body own bitcoin??

how about the office? is there somewhere?

yes that is a fact, there is not a single owner of bitcoin, Every one is the owner of such quantity of bitcoin which a person has, if you have 10 bitcoins you are the owner of 10 bitcoin and no one has the right to take from you at any case, i think there is difference between the creator and owner of bitcoin some people believe that Satoshi is the creator of bitcoin may be he is but he is just the creator and not the owner, he is just the owner of such bitcoin which he has in his account.

i think not a single  person is the owner of bitcoin, bitcoin is not a centralize currency and is not under the influence of a state person or a any form. it is anonymous and every one who has the bitcoin is the owner of these bitcoins.

as some people are thinking that Satoshi is the owner of bitcoin and he still has the key to control bitcoin, but to me i think he is just the creator of bitcoin and now not the owner because bitcoin is a universal currency and and not a centralize one,

yes i am agree. it is fact that bitcoin is the property of a single person, a person holding the amount of bitcoin is his own property and he is the owner of this property tell he has it, so no a single person is the owner of bitcoin.

Yeah right i think we are all the owners of bitcoin because we buy bitcoin and we earn it.. and we can control when and where we sell our bitcoin or use it.. satoshi is just founder who made bitcoin..

yes it is right to say that we all are the owner of bitcoin what we have, and we have full authority to use it according to our own wishes, but i want to know who is running the system ans who is paying to the employs and fro where, and who is managing the whole mining system .

yes that is a fact that there is not a sing owner of bitcoin, i think the person is the owner of such bitcoin which he has in his wallet, although some people are thinking that satoshi is the owner of bitcoin but i am not agree with that, and i think now he has no concern with bitcoin which he is not owning, but he is just the owner of those bitcoin that he has.

No it is decentralized currency distributed throughout.

yes in fact bitcoin is a universal currency and not a regional one there for there not a pacific place for bitcoin office and the main reason is that bitcoin is glogal currency therefore it has no such an office.

there is no need of any bitcoin owner and in fact there is no any owner of bitcoin but we people own it and we are the owners of bitcoin. we will stand for bitcoin and the developers and supporters will try their best to solve any issue which will arise with it.

Yes, I agree with you.  Satoshi was just the developer of bitcoin and I have read that he was given a handfuls of bitcoin after he created it.  We are the owner of bitcoins, everyone of us who are continually using it.  And I do not think that it would be an issue for the developers or supporters at it is a digital currency.  We are the owners of bitcoins and that's it.

i think every one is a legal owner of bitcoin who have the bitcoin, if i  have 5 bitcoins it mean that i am the owner of 5 bitcoins and it is my property and no one has the right to take from me without my permission.

Anyone who have or having possession of bitcoin no matter how small or big it is.  Every one who were earning, trading, investing, and using bitcoins were the owner of course.  When you buy a washing machine, it become yours when you already have it or when you already paid it in full.  Satoshi was the developer of bitcoins so let us just give the credit to him because we are able to own also what he have created.

yes that is a fact that there not a single owner of bitcoin and every one is the owner of bitcoin who own it. there is not a single owner of bitcoin, some people think satoshi nakamoto is the owner of bitcoin but i think he is just the creator of bitcoin and not the owner,

Yes, Satoshi is just the creator and he have given his share after he programmed or create the bitcoin.  No one owns it just like things, after you acquire it through anything then it is already yours.  And I agree with you that it is everyone of us who owns bitcoin.  All who have even small amount bitcoin is the owner of bitcoin.   

yes that is a fact that bitcoin is not the property of a single person but in fact it is the property of the person who is holding it, for example i have 30 bitcoin so i am the owner of these 30 bitcoin  and i have the full right to use it or hold it or donate it, i am free to do any thing with it.

He is the owner of that amount of bitcoin.As for as bitcoin crypto is concerned,there is no single owner of it.It is community's currency

I don't think anyone own all the bitcoins but I believe the person who have bitcoins in their wallet only own.

yes that is a fact that there is not a single owner of bitcoin, but all the people who own bitcoin is the owner of that bitcoin, and that is the beauty of bitcoin that is not a regional currency but a universal one.

I own bitcoins :P million of pupils are own bitcoins and you are maybe own bitcoin i dont know because that you can only know and nobody other-

I am thinking about people who still raise such questions !

Because its clear that such people still do not understand what is bitcoin.

Bitcoin is P2P currency, connected with each computer who own bitcoins.

No one knows the owner of bitcoin, no one can claim that he is the owner of bitcoin, bitcoin is a unified currency, not belonging to a specific person

i think is not a single person who is the owner of bitcoin, everyone who has bitcoin is the real owner of bitcoin, if i am holding 12 bitcoin then i am the owner of 12 bitcoin.

Well but i am not agree with your argument every thing exist here they have some laws with out laws its not possible to move forward .

Question about bitcoin ownership is only showing us that people are not used to decentralized model of economy. They think - if someone invented it then he/she owns it.
In old centralized model it is true, but bitcoin works totally different. Sometimes is really hard for me to convince people that there is no hidden agenda in bitcoin  and coins are fully under people's control.

yest you are right, there is not a single owner of all the bitcoins, but everyone who have bitcoin in their wallets is the owner of that bitcoins, and not a single person can claim all the bitcoin

but i think every one that he is the owner of some specific bitcoins and that he can really the right to hold to invest or spend  it or save it for years no one has the right to take it from you, therefore you are the owner of the bitcoin that you have.

every own who have the bitcoins is the owner of that bitcoin. there is not a single owner of bitcoin, for example i have 100 Bitcoin then i am the owner of 100 Bitcon and these 100 Bitcoins are my property and no one can take it from me.

I agree with you every thing which exist in this universe naturally obey some laws and without that it do not work properly and the same case is with bitcoin also. all the rules which are provided in order to transact our bitcoins and to buy and sell our bitcoins and to pay for any purchase are the law made for us for using bitcoin.

yes i also agree with you, i think not a single person owns all the bitcoin but all the people how have the bitcoin so he is the owner of such number of bitcoin but there is not a single owner of all the bitcoins in te forum.

actually there is not a single owner of bitcoin, all the people are the owner of bitcoin who have the bitcoins.

yes that is a fact that every one is the owner of bitcoin he has, and there is not a single own of bitcoin, for example i have 100 bitcoin so i am the owner of hundred bitcoin and i have full rights to use these 100 bitcoin according to my own wishes.

but i think in one sense we can see that  Satoshi is the really founder of bitcoin and therefore he is the owner of all bitcoins, but i think he is only the founder and now he has no control on bitcoin.

yes that is a fact that there is not a single of bitcoin, but the people who have bitcoins are the owner of these bitcoins and no one has the right to take from him as he can us it according tho his own wishes.

The philosophy of Bitcoin is that nobody controls the Bitcoin and nobody owns it. Bitcoins belongs to all and to no one in the same time. I hope nothing changes in time.

yeah that is right as we know that bitcoin is just like a property and everyone have right on it like their property and like their money so in that way they are the owner of that and a uniqueness is that it is decentralized currency.

to me there is not a single owner of bitcoin but if a person who is owning how much bitocin is his property and he is the real owner of these bitcoins, he has the right to use it and hold it.

to me bitcoin is not under the control of a single person, a person who has the number of bitcoin so he is the owner of such bitcoin and he has fully control of it, and no e one can take it from him in any case.

If we search the history of bitcoin so the concept of bitcoin was published in 2009 in cryptography mailing .

 Bitcoin is not operated by any single entity or company but is rather operated by the thousands of people running the Bitcoin software all over the world. There is a ledger that is kept to manage the transactions in the database. This is commonly referred to as the “Blockchain”. This can be compared to the system people used to share music files.

yes i also agree with you that bitcoin is under the control of a single person or group but every one  is the owner of bitcoin but if he has bitcoin,

if you check the site it is said that Bitcoin.org was originally registered and owned by Bitcoin's first two developers, Satoshi Nakamoto and Martti Malmi and to answer your part bitcoin is not a specific location or run by any administration it is a decentralized in nature,if you are familiar with p2p then you will understand this very well

every one who has the bitcoin in their wallet is the owner of these  coins other wise there is not a sing owner of bitcon and not a single country is owning it.

Absolutely not the government. Bitcoin does not belonged to any individual organizations or someone. It is the system which contains many function allow people to store their own property in computer or hardware. Satoshi is bitcoin's father, but he never intended to invent bitcoin for individual. that is my idea

there is not a single owner of bitcoin but to me every one who how much bitcoin he has, so he is the owner of such bitcoin and it is his property and he has the right to hold it or sell it or do shopping with it.

yes that is a fact there is not a single owner of bitcoin but every one who has bitcoin in his wallet is the owner of that bitcoin. some people says that Satoshi is the owner of bitcoin but i think he is just the developer of bitcoin and not the owner now.

As far as we know, Satoshi Nakamoto and Martti Malmi are two software developers started Bitcoin.

First learn about the concept of open source then ask such questions.
No one can claim ownership of any open source code/project only can adopt and use it.

I think bitcoin operates the same way as any currency operates.  If you are holding a certain currency in the bank, the owner of that money is you.   Government cannot take those money away from you unless it came from illegal activities or money laundering.  Even if the US government printed US dollar, they do not own the US dollar that you have in your bank account.  Same stuff is observed with bitcoin.  Even if it was Satoshi Nakamoto who created / programmed bitcoin, the bitcoins in your own wallet address is yours.

The real fact is that the person who has bitcoin in his wallet is the owner of those bitcoin. He can sell these bitcoin too and earn money. Actually bitcoin is a virtual money.

As many users say here that Bitcoin is only 7 years old, and it's almost impossible to tell how it's going to evolve and what it's role as a currency going to be in the future. At the moment, Bitcoin is owned by it's users.  Many people would like to think that Bitcoin is untouchable by authority figures, but in the future, it could possibly be regulated.
In the future, Bitcoin could be supervised by some authority figure or by some international currency contracts. It's pretty much impossible to speculate what could be the currency status and who "owns" it.

Yeah i agree with you that you owns the bitcoin what you are holding since its your investment and you have bitcoin because of your money so no one can owns it..and yeah unless if it is from illiegal activity but bitcoin is not illegal and they are still active and alive..

but i think i am the owner of those bitcoins which i have, as i have the right to use it according to my wish or save it or even invest it any where, therefore i can say that i am the owner of those bitcoins which i have. and no one can take it from me for ever.

I think Satoshi controls all

I meant bitcoin in general not bitcoin that some individual possess.I use Gmail and my gmail account is mine but the entire gmail.com is owned by Google in same sense who owns all bitcoin?

China I would think due to the events that happened to cause it's price to go down 9% from it's demise on it's shores.
If they were proven true then the price would of continued to drop until it got to $0.

Since it's an open-source project, I'd say that Bitcoin isn't owner by anyone. In most cases, there's a group behind the initial codes (Satoshi, not Bitcoin Core devs) which face up the problems, even the legal ones. But, in this case, nobody owns the code except Github I guess.

What you said is true that it is a open source project and anyone can start bitcoin mining by getting source from github. that is why their are so many altcoin are formed on the basis of bitcoin technology.

I think you can not mine bitcoin right now without bitmain or hardware like miner bitmain s7 or s9.. so the open source will help you to have idea to make your own miner.. but if you are just making a software it will not help yo mine with pc it needs a hardware like antminer.

If we were to apply the traditional concept of ownership to Bitcoin, then one can safely say that no one really owns Bitcoin. You do not even own the Bitcoin which you have in your wallet - first of all, they are not in your physical possession. Secondly, they aren't even stored locally on your computer - they are stored on the blockchain. Thirdly, you only own the private key, and not the Bitcoins themselves.

That being said, traditional rules cannot be applied to Bitcoin. Heck, they can't even be applied to the Internet. Regulation worldwide hasn't even caught up to the concept of virtual ownership, let alone Bitcoin, the blockchain and so on. Patents and trademarks only cover "commercializable" intangible items. Do we even own our Twitter account, or do we just have access to a compartmentalized section of a bigger creation?

Long story short - we cannot make hasty conclusions on novel concepts such as Bitcoin. We are barely scratching its surface even 8 years after conception, it is still in my opinion in alpha mode and not even in beta mode. Some countries such as the U.S. may slowly be entering beta but what we're certain of is that even if we do not own Bitcoin, we can certainly say we're all on the journey together - and I'm enjoying every step of the way!

normally we consider owner of a coin who create it, but i think the person who have fully control on an object and can manipulate it then he is the realy owner of that coin, as in case of bitcoin as not a single person has the right to manipulate bitcoin or can effect it and even cannot get it from any one therefore no one is the owner of bitcoin except the person who has access to the bitcoins,  and can use it according to their own choice. so he is the real owner of bitcoin.

Bitcoin as what it is, and whoever may be its owner, any dispute relating to it can never be put into court. As a whole, the use of bitcoin is not yet generally accepted by most of the countries in the world, resulting to any dispute within it unresolvable. If bitcoin goes down, it goes down, without any person have legal remedies on it.

In my view if I have a Bitcoin. I am also owners of that so all the peoples who have Bitcoin is owner of Bitcoin. Owner ship & founder both are separate thinks I can say Satoshi may be the founder of Bitcoin.

I agree with you that nobody has bitcoin and Satoshi is the only one who finds IDE and apply it, while those who have bitcoin are the ones who keep bitcoin in their wallets

For me regulations about bitcoin nawadays are that low that nobody could say who is the owner of it or something like that, for me now bitcoin really don't care about law but in future there could be some changes and then we could talk about this thread.

Not a good thing for you to bumped an old thread which its already 2 years old gap since on the last reply but somehow there are things are considerable to be bumped rather than on creating another new thread.

To be on topic, We have all known that Satoshi is the creator but the owner would be the users itself and if there are any related problems attached to it then it would be still hard to take legal actions due to nature of bitcoin which is not legalized or neither accepted everywhere so theres no possible action would be done.

Sooner or later bitcoin or cryptocurrency as a whole must have a legal protection. Remembering the bitcoin users are increasingly popular and widely used by humans, so for now bitcoin needs to provide comfort to every user. All we know, there are many frauds that happen on behalf of bitcoin when they are garbage that continues to grow until today. At least there is an agency that set each new user to show the right place to be a safe investment place.

Bitcoin belongs to people who have them on their wallets. It's a decentralised currency.

But is this knowledge could chagne anything for us? I think that it is just enough what we know and we don't need to speculate who is the real owner.

So far I have not observed such situations.

Is it true that bitcoin doesn't need law? I think it still needs because more precisely bitcoin also requires clear rules and laws governing bitcoin, bitcoin holders also have a strong guarantee of bitcoin ownership. my opinion.

I think there will be no disputes related to bitcoin or ownership. All Bitcoin transactions are public and transparent, the Bitcoin network shares a public record through the Blockchain that contains all transactions that have been processed, this allows the user's computer to verify the validity of each transaction. The authenticity of each transaction is protected by a digital signature related to the sender's address.

iyah bitcoin should also have someone who regulates this to protect the security of bitcoin, because if we look at the nominal in the coin it is not small if there is no law needed that guarantees the security of bitcoin, what if there is a fraud that can be said, so I think law is necessary join hands in this matter.

Ask the same question but change "Bitcoin" to "U.S. Dollar", "Euro", "Yen", or even the "Philippine Peso" this time, you would definitely have a much clearer answer. I am saying to you this because the owner of the currency is certainly the one who has earned it. It doesn't matter who their creator is as it ends there, he does not have any legal rights on being the owner of the BTC you are currently holding as it is yours. Do not make this complicated as the answer is really right there in front of you.

Bitcoin belongs to someone who has it. And if you sell bitcoin, then you sell your rights to dispose of them as you wish.

Such a dispute simply does not arise. Everyone understands that cryptocurrency does not belong to anyone.

As far as I know, Bitcoin was developed not by one person, but by a team of programmers, of course, professional programmers whose names are unknown. Except for the one you mentioned. But no one knows their locations, names, and so on. So if there are any problems, they will have nothing.

Bitcoin  and the blockchain technology is just a system and a program a ledger, to determine bitcoin in your wallet or your holding, when bitcoin leave from one wallet it will just simply transfer to another wallet, in terms of ownership no body owns bitcoin nor own as a legal tender of a certain countries it has no boundaries and anonymous.

There are no solid proofs that it was a team nor that bitcoin's been created by one person.

As for topic question, sure bitcoin is owned only by wallet owner.

Bitcoin, as a system, can not belong to anyone. The course of bitcoin can be influenced by large coin holders. The whole system can be affected if you have 51% of the votes in the blockchain. If I'm not mistaken, then Bitmain has so much.

Bitcoin is used freely, while the person's name you say is satoshi nakamoto as the inventor.
The name Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudonym, he seems very mysterious.
Now if there is a dispute, maybe no one can answer, because bitcoin does not have a legal umbrella.

This is a really interesting question. I think that in the next 3 years it will be finally settled with the help of lawyers and attorneys.

Bitcoin is invented by a group of computer scientists, their names are not known for sure. The majority of Bitcoin is owned by a group of people and exchanges that determine the movement and price of bitcoin.

The answer is very simple if any problem regarding the bitcoin arises then the person who owed/caused that problem which make legal issues are the one need to face it not the owner who is called satoshi Nakamoto is responsible for that.

I believe that Bitcoin belongs to someone who has a certain amount of this currency. Therefore, if a person has problems during mutual settlements, he has the right to go to court.

Technology cares about Bitcoin. The only settling court for Bitcoin disputations is technology.

In my opinion, If there is any issues arise that related to bitcoin then the person who is involved is the person you need to look and talk to. Satoshi Nakamoto is outside of the picture if someone used it in some illegal activities and also you can not identify the person because all of us here is anonymous. Though we have a technology to find where and who is the person try to hacked in some legal companies. Still when it comes to bitcoin we did not yet now whom we consult.

Who owns Bitcoin?
There are clever, smart and free mind people.
They know that crypto is the next stage in world economic development.
They just making capital now.

Bitcoin does not belong to anyone, because no one has been granted a patent for his invention. In court, there can only be a dispute over the recognition of the right of ownership or ownership of a certain number of bitcoins. It will be easier to do after the state legalizes cryptocurrency.

I think until whenever it will not be disputed on a large scale or until it's linked to the law, Bitcoin is still like freedom and for the future., I think many people will participate on its role and its development till get a warmer welcome from various people.

bitcoin is owned, by the share

by its

1. miners

2. holders

3. marketing and social supporters. (even if for irrational reasons)

everyone can have bitcoin as long as they want to use and have bitcoin as their asset. we all have the right to have a bitcoin so that bitcoin is not controlled or owned by just one person. everyone can have any amount of bitcoin as long as they can get it.

The amount of bitcoin you have in your wallet are all yours and makes you the owner of that particular portion. Bitcoins owner until now is still.unknown. because of the decentralization, i guess bitcoin doesnt have any title holder for being an owner. The origin is known yet the one who manages it isnt.

it looks like Bitcoin doesn't belong to anyone, other than those already in someone's wallet, it belongs to that person.
As far as I know Bitcoin is made by Satoshi Nakamoto but I don't think he has all Bitcoin but only makes it.
so there is no definite news about who owns Bitcoin.

There is no need to confuse the concept of ownership of the invention of bitcoin and ownership of a certain number of bitcoins.
Nobody has a patent for the invention of Bitcoin, so we can assume that no one has a legal owner for this invention.
Ownership of a specific number of bitcoins can be in any natural or legal person. If the states legalize cryptocurrency, everyone can prove in court the legality of obtaining bitcoins, and therefore the right of ownership to them, which includes three rights - ownership, use and disposal.

Bitcoin is indeed made by someone who uses the name Nakamoto, but when many people make bitcoin wallets and have bitcoin wherever they come from and in any way, then they own the bitcoin. Bitcoin is a decentralized currency, allowing us to manage all transactions that we want without requiring the bank.

Satoshi may control bitcoin as s/he has the original coding. If Satoshi damage then it might be damage in anyway. Though there are lots of coder who is working on it.

I believe this much more than the theory that is only done by one person or he is a japanese old guy. They could also be compose of only 2-3 programmers including the creator which they do not know for sure because if one of the programmers know who he is it then we already knew who is the Satoshi guy earlier.

Bitcoin is owned by various people with various professions, because bitcoin can be used by anyone without exception. The requirement is to have an internet network and a computer device or an Android cellphone, and have knowledge about the operations of bitcoin.
Ownership is unknown because it is anonymous, only based on complicated code, and spread everywhere in the world.

Bitcoin itself is literally for anyone , not just only for its devs  but the bitcoin or the balance that you see on your wallet is all yours and not for anyone else  . bitcoin is partially anonymous but that does not mean that the ownership is also anonymous   . bitcoin hodlers do have identities  , you can get track via your bitcoin wallet addresses ( public key ) 

If you mean creator or founder then he is Satoshi. But if you mean who is holding Bitcoin then the answer will be a lots of people and also day by day number of people is increasing who owns bitcoin.

Anyone can have bitcoin, either by buying, giving or exchanging between coins. Because this is a digital currency, so physically it is not there, ownership is only based on a complicated code, so the real owner is not known.
This currency is anonymous, but can be used to transact peer to peer and the system is decentralized. There is no prohibition to become a bitcoin owner, even though it is in a country that prohibits bitcoin as a payment tool.

Just the mystery continues if Satoshi is a single person or institution who still hold or continue to be exists. Also their are millions of people who are holding the btc or had an position before and might sold due to bear market. But people will buy in future again.

exactly  . bitcoin is a virtual , thats why we cant see it but that doesnt mean that you dont own it  . all people that use and own bitcoin can be considered as a bitcoin owner  .  bitcoin restrictions nowadays are now starting to loose  and on the future we can expect that all people are now bitcoin hodlers/owners  .

The thread was made in 2016, but this is important for many people to know. Some countries use the basis of Anglo and civil law, the difference is codified and the logic of thinking of judges. But I think both of them have the same goal, namely the logic of thinking. So, if there is a legal dispute for the owner of bitcoin it will be easy to solve. Because bitcoin technology is a proven mathematical logic, there are many examples of people claiming to be satosi but they are not legally proven to be owners of bitcoin.

Satoshi is a name of a person but now we can call it a institution base on its followers as well as supporters. Actually it is not easy to know/tell how many people are holding bitcoin.

Nobody has a patent for the invention of Bitcoin. Therefore, legally it does not belong to anyone. However, the owner will be any person who has a private key to a wallet with Bitcoin. Therefore, in court it will be enough to prove that you were the owner of a bitcoin wallet. When legalizing the cryptocurrency by the state, the relevant legal norms should already indicate the specific grounds that should be evidence of the ownership of the cryptocurrency. These bases may differ slightly in different states.

Ownership of bitcoin is anonymous so it remains mysterious who is the owner of bitcoin. But based on the ownership code, it is known who the real owner is when interesting in bitcoin exchanges.
There are indeed good and bad sides to this anonymous ownership, but everything that happens in cyberspace is still an unknown thing. Future technology does require clear regulations from each country to prevent negative effects, so criminals are not used.

There are really lots of faketoshis we have seen all over the years claiming that they are satoshi but all failed to prove it out and i dont really believe that he would come out.
He might be dead or alive watching his own creation been adopted all over the years had passed and we wont even know if this is a single identity or as a group of people.
No one owns bitcoin even the creator itself because it isnt being created for such thing.

Legally, bitcoin does not belong to anyone. He is a folk art, because no one has received a patent for his invention.
If a dispute arises in the courts or anywhere else, the one who legally had bitcoins in his wallet will be considered the owner of bitcoin. That is what will need to prove, and not the history of his invention.

It is true that there are so many bitcoin owners today because bitcoin has been authorized in more than 130 countries so ownership consists of various types of characters from people from different backgrounds.
I think bitcoin owners are people who dare to invest their money and speculate because they believe that bitcoin will provide a lot of profit in the future.

I am on the same opinion of you, and you are most perfect regarding bitcoin owner and also at the same time I am surprised to see that you mean bitcoin owner are those people who are daring to invest on bitcoin. Thumbs up.

I do not think so, I believe the people whoever having the satoshi level fund also the owner of bitcoin. I hope you could understand what I am trying to say. The investors are really looking forward to make the money with the new coins which gonna come up in future.
Presently the all the market is completely depend on the price movment of bitcoin and people also love to invest and make money out of it.

If you use Bitcoin, then you are the legal owner of Bitcoin. That is why Bitcoin is being regarded as a decentralized currency. No third party is involved when you use BTC. It is your responsibility to hold or transact your coins. A dispute over ownership can arise in some cases. For example, if someone steals your coins after hacking in to your wallet, then you need to file a police complaint and claim that your digital assets were stolen by that person. Satoshi is not going to help you in that case.