Bitcoin Forum

The topic has said everything so I want to know the different opinions from forum users. I have done the physical interview with some people and I have seen the different mindsets of people for seen money on the floor or somewhere in their working places.
There was a story in my locality this week. A woman who is working in a hotel, found $70,000 in hotel room she working and with her good heart, she returns the money to the customer. Now the question other people asked was if the didn't know the person what she would have done?

If you were in the woman's shoe, what would you do? Or if you see such amount as bitcoin in your working place with the seed phrase in aseed plate, what will you do? And probably you know the person and there is no way to locate the person. But if I am the one, I will also do the same as the woman and if I don't know the person and I can't locate the person, I will take to the nearest Radio or Television Stations for Broadcasting, or if any of the above can not be found in the locality then I will handover them to the police.

I love my Name to be good

Morally yes it is right to return something that doesn’t belong to you. Then secondly the comparison between a lost money and a lost hardware wallet is way different. You can easily spend the money.

But for hardware wallet you can’t access the funds on it considering the fact that it is most at times locked with pins or biometrics. Also spending from them requires your private keys.

Holding onto the hardware wallet is also just useless because with a recovery seed, the owner can easily recover is funds on a new one. So definitely returning it saves more stress.

and with the hardware wallet, you have better chance of finding the owner rather than cracking the keys of that wallet. and you have moral obligation on this situation, that is, if you are that kind of person who value the morality. whether a hardware wallet or a physical one, returning to the owner is the right thing to do. now, this act depends on how the person has been brought up and how he deals with situation like this. you can't expect everyone to do the right thing when they feel they have something to gain.

How would you know that there are 3BTC on the hardware wallet? Zaguru12 made a good point, those HW wallets are always locked with extra passwords and other security mechanisms. So even if you were tempted, you would not be able to access the funds. The only thing worth keeping would be the hardware wallet itself. The right thing to do would be to give it back to the owner, and who knows, they might even give you a little something as a reward!

Sorry the seed phrase was also found in the bag with the wallet and there is a possibility that you can transfer the coins to any other wallet. But morality can allow you to do that?

What you are asking, is illogical indesence that it's not possible to pick btc from the floor. And if you do, you probably won't have access to it as it would be secure using passcodes and other security measures.You might not even have an idea of what a hardware wallets might be at that time except you are also a bitcoiner.
Wow, the person would just be so unreasonable and walk around with their seed phrase. Look I get what you are trying to say here, but As I said before, it's illogical

Practically, it is adviced to return something that isn't yours or rather just leave it maybe the owner might come looking for it. But let's be realistic and cut the crap. I don't think most people would see  money on the floor and just leave it there or even think about looking for it's owner. That would be their last taught.

Finding a hardware wallet with 3 BTC is like hitting the crypto jackpot... only if you have the password and backup seeds. :D

Right now this is fiction because no one will be that dump to hold to such amount and just move around with the seed like that. Also there could a passphrase too. But nonetheless it is just not morally right to keep what doesn’t belong to you

Because we are not in his situation, it is easy to suggest that you will return the seed phrase if he unintentionally loses it. Most of the time, if a person finds something, even if it is small, they will not return it. How much more if you discovered something that will make you rich quickly, allowing you to quit your work and create your own home. Some people simply return the items they find since they know they can be traced. We all know what to do in that scenario, and there are still nice individuals who will return what they found; I hope we remain true to ourselves.

I don't see anything productive coming from this post aside from the fact that forum members will start confessing or answering to a crime they never committed or that has no possibility of happening.

Just like others have said this is just a fiction and the answers you'll get will also be fictional. On what world will a hardware wallet owner keep his or her passcode inside a bag with his wallet? If they will be negligent like that then what's the essence of getting a hardware wallet in the first place? Please dude wake up to reality and ask questions like someone who truly is in this reality.

^It is good to be a good Samaritan.
As we always heard this (Be honest, even if others are not, even if others will not, and even if others cannot) that was probably the reason this story why the girl returned that big amount. Just considering the hypothetical situation of being in her shoes or finding a significant amount like BTC with the seed phrase, I would also aim to act with honesty and integrity. If I know the rightful owner and there's no way to locate them, I would make every effort to return the money or assets to them, even resorting to using media channels like Radio or TV if necessary. If all else fails, handing it over to the police would be the right thing to do, ensuring that the rightful owner has the best chance of reclaiming their property. Because for me, honesty and doing what is right should guide our actions in such situations.

I beg to differ. There are still plenty of good people in the world today. Not to brag but I was an active user of a crypto project (in DeFi) where a small set of users including me were able to withdraw more than we deposited. This was unintended and a week later, the team reached out and got it returned to them as soon as I could. I ended up getting a bounty from the  exploited amount and although it was no where near the full exploit amount but the satisfaction I got from it, was worth it and I enjoyed the experience.

I have read about plenty of situations like this and some times (not all times), the lost item/amount is returned.

I also don't see the purpose of this topic. Most people will of course say that they would return the wallet to the owner (if they know who it is) and no one will admit that they would keep the money for themselves. But we all know that's not true. If you have ever been in a situation or know someone who has lost a wallet with personal documents and money, you know that only in very rare situations does an honest finder contact the owner. True, there are still honest people in the world, but my experience is that people are mostly selfish and greedy.

I honestly don't know what I would do because I simply cannot imagine myself in such a situation. That whole imaginary scenario sounds too unreal to me. No normal person would actually carry a hardware wallet along with its recovery seed, so it's pointless to even talk about this kind of situation.

I would give them back only if I can find the real owner of the wallet, I mean, I wouldn't give it to the Hotel staff unless they ask for it.

And to be honest is a fun topic, what kind of people leaves close to $100k in the hotel, I think that's nonsense, if any of us travels with that amount of bitcoin for sure we would have them with us all time, or at least leave it in a place that we know they are save.

It is an interesting question….and it is mainly based on a controversy of principles, from what our parents taught us as children, perhaps for some, not returning money that was found is something normal and does not have any weight, but for the person who lost his money he can take it as a lack of morals, especially if this individual who took what was not his realized who was harmed, so depending on the circumstances in which the situation arises, conclusions can be drawn in this regard.

 For my part, there are different scenarios in which I would act reasonably without attacking my principles:

1-If I saw the person: I would immediately follow them and hand it over without thinking.
2-If I know the person: I would do exactly the same as in the previous point, I would try to communicate and express to him that I have something that belongs to him.
3-If I never saw the person and the money was simply there without any type of identification with which I can do something: I would simply take it, of course if this happens on the street, because if it is in an establishment, I would look for a way to deliver it.
4- If suddenly I get it and someone comes looking for what they lost, I would deliver it in its entirety.

You have to be honest and contribute to a better world, if you take something and you can have the opportunity to return it, it is best that you do so.

Every human is greedy, if there's an opportunity to get more money, every people will try it even you need to use a dirty way. $70,000 is huge, but it doesn't mean there's no one want to bring back the hardware wallet to the holder. It depends on how much the money you've make and how your wealth, if you make good amount of money and already have a good life, this kind people will return the hardware wallet.

Now, how much you make monthly and how much your monthly spend?

Not returning someone else's money you've found is stealing in my books, so obviously I'd return such a thing but most importantly I don't want others to do something like this to me (not return my money if I lose it some day) so I don't do it to others.

No matter what, you should always return it, even if it is a small or big amount, because the owner of it is really struggling to earn it. Also, with regards to the hardware wallet, it is impossible to know how much is in there if you don't have the private key or seed phrase, meaning you need to open it first before knowing if there are bitcoins there. But again, no matter what, do your best to find the owner of it; if not, give it to the most responsible authorities.

It must not be a Bitcoin story but can be anything else.

Good people will return any asset they found even that asset has value like a fortune with them. Such stories are not too rare in life and I believe you already read such stories some times in your life. So this Bitcoin story and your question is not necessary. The answer is obvious, if she is a good person, she will find ways to return Bitcoin to the victim but if she is morally bad, she will steal it and keep silent even if the victim asks her about that.

In this type of situation, you would have to see what the person does in the real situation, because you may say you would return it and if you were in that situation you would not do it. For my part, I have given money back but they were much smaller amounts. I think I would do like the OP, but you never know. If I didn't know who the owner was and I really needed the money I might be tempted.

If it were me, this would be a long thought for me. Do I have to return it, and I won't, because I think the original owner must have kept the seed phrase in reserve.
and I will keep it in a safe place and I will always check at any time whether the bitcoin nominal is still intact or not and this will be done in the long term, while waiting for developments whether the person is looking for it or not. And if it's been years with no progress in the number of bitcoins and information from their owners, I consider it my luck. ;D

This topic is totally based on imagination and I think this is never going to happen specially losing hardware wallets and at the same time backup phrase. I never think anyone will bear his phrase in the hotel and there will be extra layer authentication obviously like pin code or passwords. If someone unfortunately lose his backup phrase in the hotel then he must have another backup obviously because he knows how important it is.

So unfortunately in my POV this is just an imagination and nothing going to happen like his. So we could make this discussion bigger but the output will be zero.In my case I will wait for the real owner because he might remember now and searching it. So he will obviously come to the hotel again. If it not happens then I will inform to Hotel management and submit to the police. So that if someone search it can easily get return with providing proper proofs.

I believe the "Good" that you do, will come back to you. Imagine that women decided to keep the wallet and her employer decided to to test her honesty by "planting" that wallet in the room.... she would have lost her job, if she decided not to return it.

There are always some kind of consequences for our actions, so I think positive actions ....bring positive consequences. The employer might have given her a raise in her salary, if she was honest and he felt that he could trust her.  ;) (The owner of the wallet could even have given her a large reward for her honesty)

Now that sounds strange to me as why would anyone carry their seeds phrases with them while travelling and just put them in a bag which have high chances of getting lost ? But still if you have found the bag humanity says you should return it to the owner because don't know how much they need it or have saved their income with hard work so you should not keep it being greedy.

That depends. Do I get to keep the Bitcoin? If yes, then sure, I’ll return the hardware wallet. If no, then sorry, I’ll have to keep it as a souvenir. 😜

$70,000 in cash would be hard to keep hidden. Hotels usually have surveillance cameras throughout the building so it wouldn't be too hard to narrow down a list of suspects to determine who took the money. The same thing applies when we are dealing with someone's seed phrase. If you are in a located in a place that is being surveilled and there are many people around the odds of getting away with it are low so you are better off returning it to the original owner.

If i would find that money then i will have some thoughts about it. Like, what if the money is not legal? If it proved to be illegal then i am stuck with it i can not use it. I will be the one considered guilty behind it. Second, i could not take it to the police station either the money is in Fiat or in BTC. Why? legality of the fiat can not be proved and BTC is not legal in my country so that's not an option.

I might take the HW with seed phrase with me because by carrying them with me at least on one will find me or could track me. So, if the owner is legit he/she will be back and when they will be back i will investigate him/her with my friends maybe who are in legal firms. Or maybe with a lawyer.

Then i might bring the device to the police too. Because now i have the proof that someone came back for his/her money. I will be careful with such big amount of money because i will be the one questioned by authorities not the ones owning it. (If it's illegal).

I would return it to the actual owner who proves me the ownership of the hardware wallet as I cannot access it by anyway unless I am a professional hacker.
As I can't access it, the wallet is basically worthless for me. Instead by returning, I can atleast get a small tip from the owner if he's generous enough.

Also, do you realize that you can use the private key and buy a new hardware wallet and import the account there? So I fail to understand why this is a discussion. :D

If I know who owns it, I will hand it over to the owner. If not, I will keep it for a while and tell the hotel manager where I work that I found the Bitcoin wallet. And if, after a few days, no one notices the loss of the Bitcoin wallet, I will probably go to the radio or television station to broadcast the news. And if nothing is missing, I'll turn them over to the police.

It is unlikely that someone will randomly put the seed phrase from the Bitcoin wallet because at least he already knows how to keep it from other people. Maybe for his Bitcoin wallet, he forgot to save it, so it's normal for it to happen.

But it's up to people what their reaction will be when they come across something that isn't theirs. But they should have returned it to the owner because it didn't belong to them. But some people want to have something, especially if they find it in a public place. This concerns one's morals and the temptation to have one is there.

I can't help but laugh in Chinese here, it's not so kind to keep what is not yours, it's just gross. If I was you, I will either leave it and go my way as if I never saw it or call the attention of the hotel management to it.

What is not yours is not yours, you can do well by avoiding Karma by doing the right thing. A true man would work for his money.

No i will not return it to the owner.  :D :D just kidding. But 3+ BTC is a huge amount and it is enough to make someone greedy. Even a man with solid morality. But still, there are good people like the one in your example I am talking about maid. She must have a big heart to do that. Because making daily earning must not be easy and even in all that problematic life she choses not to take that much amount.

Which might help her out. But still she chooses the right path so i think i should also chose the right path. If the 3+ BTC is best for me then giving them back to the owner is much better than that. But, i know, not in this world, i am going to face such situation. maybe in my imagination world but in this world. So, i should not think about it that much neither you should.

There is a big difference between hardware wallets, in which the average person cannot access your money by owning the device only, as he needs to know the PIN or seek the help of professional hackers that may not be able to recover your coins, while in seeds, you have access to those coins, and they become yours if the user does not withdraw his money quickly.

The problem lies in how to determine the person's ownership of those coins, often people do not keep records of their purchase of their coins or they will need some time to verify them.

If the opposite happens, the best advice is to keep the seeds nearby so that you can send coins quickly.

She cannot actually hide that amount because surely there will be a thorough investigation and truth will prevail , meaning I am not questioning that person's act but it gave her some doubts of hiding and keeping that amount.

Maybe better to ask if she found that amount in a place where no one can find the truth and there what would be her action.

__________________________________

Also this is different from your question because if we are talking about hardware wallet in which there is a Bitcoin in there? then that is a different story.

though for me , keeping someone's money is like taking them away from them so Stealing it is and I will never come to take that funds.

A good name is better than being noted for wrong reasons. I prefer writing my name with a golden pen on a golden book for such reason of me being good.

OP I would gladly and happily return it back to whom ever owns it if I know them otherwise I would make a public announcement for anyone coming to claim it to be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt if they are the true owners of the hardware. What belongs to another is not your own and can never be your own. I think it is bad holding back in your possession what belongs to another for greedy reasons.

The case of finding money in a hotel room and Bitcoin in the wallet seems irrelevant, because unlike cash, you cannot directly use Bitcoin in the hardwallet. No matter how hard you hack into it, it won't work. So the best thing is that you can return it to its owner, maybe you can get a hefty reward for your kindness.

I would return it, why? hotel is full of hidden camera and you're already leave your personal information on there, so if I steal his hardware wallet and Bitcoin, I would become wanted person by the police. It's not anonymous and I risking my life for $70,000, it's no for me since sooner or later the police will find you.

However the best way to return the hardware wallet when the owner able to sign a message, if not then it's not the owner.

You can have the answer if you take a minute and think about, what if your BITCOIN is lost and someone else find it before you, how will you feel? People like taking advantage of the present situation if it favours them, they don't think about the other person that the favor isn't favoring, the world is full of greedy and mean people.

If I find myself in such situation I will return it back to the owner, it's not mine its someone else's sweat and blood, im not going to swallow that and pretend like nothing happened, there is karma and you will lost something more daring to you with no chance of getting return back to you, mother earth is in a round form and I slowly turns around every time, that means that in this life what goes around will come back around to the good and the bad people.

When you got into this kind of situation, I'm pretty sure that experience will leave a battleground on one's mind. Like a battle of doing what is morally right or doing what is practically best for your situation.
If I keep it for my own good, well that's a lot of money is it? I can buy almost whatever I want. But my conscience will haunt me for a lifetime. Trying my best to give it back to the original owner may sound stupid but it is the best and morally right thing to do.

I think the thing here is unless the original owner cannot be found, then you can have it to be yours.

I do not know, but in my country there is a reward for obtaining 5% of the value of deposits if you hand them over to the police or return them to their owner, and if these products are illegal, for example money used in money laundering, then that percentage will be given to you after confiscation.
Therefore, if I were in his position, the best is 5% guaranteed with expressions of thanks, rather than wasting my life and my family because of 3 bitcoins that could end me in prison.

I have felt the feeling of losing something important and I've got that thought and understanding of how it feels for that person to lose that amount and that could be his entire life savings.

But there's this thought of mine that I should return it to the rightful people if the owner is nowhere to be found. Like I'll hand it over to the police or if there's no police visibility, to the right people where they'll hand it over to the actual of owner of it.

That's why for those that have felt and experienced losing something and then some good people have returned it, you know what to do but to do the right thing and do the favor.

Does such law possibly exist because if it does, it will be off great importance because it encourages goodwill and makes people to do right when it comes to finding things that does not belong to them and kindly returning them back to the owner. Sometimes it is good to appreciate people who find missing or stolen item back to the owners because they could have taken it but for the sake of posterity and clear conscience, they returned such item  to the owner. It shows how trustworthy they could be.

 I have had such experience where my money fell out of my pocket unbeknownst to me while highlighting from a bus  a lady right inside the bus while highlighting at the same junction too walking the same direction behind me picked it up and called my attention i turned to her and she handed my money back to me. I was dumbfounded because i had no idea when my money fell out from my pocket.I had to show appreciation but she rejected it and asked me to do same to others if i should ever see such. I was amazed at her kindness and personality.

The true nature of a man is always tested when he comes into a lot of money or have none at all.
The story of the cash returned by the lady may have been possible because it was note and not crypto currency.
Also it could be because of the faith she practices and knows it is wrong to take what doesn't belong to you.

As for the second paragraph where you mentioned the 3+ BTC, a person in their senses who of course has an idea of how BTC works and how to transfer the coins via crypto network, will know they can get away with it or not.
They can if they use a mixer, they can hide the coins without trace because that's how good the decentralized system has developed to accommodate anonymity.
They may be caught if they try to act smart and forget there is probably a CCTV camera or attendance is noted for persons who were in the room.

Besides the hammer of karma that will fall on such person who steals others' property, it is always good to do the right thing.

Just like the one in ask @Stalker22 how does the person know that in the hardware wallet there is 3btc more or with a high value, that I know someone can not see the contents of the balance inside the paper device except its owner, does sanga owner lost all his at the hotel including, the recovery phrase paper records and his smart phone so that the inventor knows the total amount of his assets?

---

Morally it should be returned to the owner, it is not our right because $70K is a big amount for sure the owner will look for him in the hotel and ask him, or as others say leave it to the police as a safe place, that way you can be called a good person.

I'd probably do if it would be surrendered to the rightful owner. One reason is, I cannot imagine myself being in such situation, having to lost such amount. I don't have that much of wealth but I just cannot do such thing. But I am not judging those who would be honest to say that they won't; we all have different principles in life, that is you and this is I. Problem is knowing who's the real owner right? Others would say "you are just saying that but the thing you will do is diffirent...." Who knows ourselves more? I just prefer earning things thru legitinate effort and not by such thing

What would be the point of keeping it? Just to screw someone else? I would want to talk to the owner of the device and hope that a reward for it’s return was coming to me, but even if it wasn’t there would be no point holding onto this device unless you think removing coins from circulation is somehow your duty as a Bitcoiner.

Probably take it off since I'm a man and women's shoes are really uncomfortable :D

The answer is very simple, I'd take it.
Don't know the person, have no way to return it, so I can either leave it as it is for someone else to pick up, or I can take it. I'd choose the second option.
If someone came looking, I'd ask them some questions to verify if they're the owner and tell them that I'd send them the money in exchange for a finder's fee.

A lost wallet with no whereabouts regarding the seedphrase or keys is useless and is basically a very expensive paper weight. If you'd be willing to carry that around you (when some of these wallets even have trackers with them now) you're basically just risking yourself. So it's best and wise to surrender it to the owner or something. As for money it's a different story. I understand that you're trying to be morally right here and all that but at the same time, $70,000 is still $70,000, so while I do not know personally if I'd surrender the money or whatnot, there will definitely be some internal dilemma that I'd be under of lol. And while you're right, a good name's great and all that, you also have to realize that there's no upsides to being poor lol.

This is a dumb question to ask, what do you need our opinions on this case for? I believe everyone here will say they would do the right thing and return the money especially since bitcointalk is a place where reputation is taken seriously but we will never know unless it happens for real. We have seen high rank accounts scam other users or default on loans. IMO taking what’s not yours in any case or scenario is stealing, just because you can’t trace the bitcoin back to its owner doesn’t make it right to claim it as yours.

This is really one of the most difficult decisions to make. Let's be honest with ourselves. If a cleaner in a hotel room saw some huge amounts of money in a safe, how would she even know that what she saw was valuable? And how would Someone be working around with that kind of BTC on his or her hardware wallet attached with their passphrase on a piece of paper? The story isn't really that clear to me at all, and at some points it looks nearly impossible to me.
 
Another thing there is, we know taking what belongs to others is stealing no matter how it's obtained, but if the story is true, the possibility of the real owner of the wallet getting it back will really be small, as the cleaner might not have access to the hotel record where she could be able to get the contact details of the person, and going to the management with such information, there is no guarantee that if they take that hardware wallet they will give it to the right owner, as the amount in there is huge enough for a hotel receptionist to take as a payoff.

This situation is really that depending on a certain individual because not all would really be minding about having a good name and as long you wont really be located or would be traced up then most of the time the funds
been found would really be totally not be given back into its rightful owner. We are assuming on having that 3 BTC which is equivalent to 90k as of this moment on which we could really say that it is really a big amount
for most people and even on those third world countries on which on this amount you could really be able to build up a house and buy a car i would say on which if you have seen on your own palms about
acquiring these amounts without having no hardship then for sure you wouldnt boggled up on getting it and wont be having plans on giving it out once again.

Some would really be give out importance with their name and having that pure heart on doing the good thing which there are still people who are really like this way but majority
would always matter on having that easy money into them.

The incident happens in the hotel room so there is a record who accommodated that room and the owner of that $70k is known, the person who happen to get that money will be known so there is nothing she can do but to return the money and it is the right thing to do.

Regardless of any reward or appreciation, as the person who happen to stumble on the lost amount, I will also return it to its owner.  If the owner is unknown, then I will surrender it to the management.  There are records and cctvs in a hotel, so it is better to avoid unnecessary troubles in the future and just report the lost money to the management security/lost and found department.

Besides, it is morally good to don't claim anything that is not ours.

Keeping what is not ours certainly will not make our hearts calm. So I will return it to its original owner. and if the real owner is unknown then i will try to track down the person who left the place last time. and if it's in a hotel room then it's actually quite easy to track down who the last hotel tenant left the hotel room.

But if we find one on the street lying around then it will be difficult to find the original owner. Unless there is street CCTV that records everyone who passes on that road. Then of course it will help to simplify the search.

But I'd avoid announcing it live over a Radio broadcast or anything like that. because there is a risk that people will come who want to cheat and claim to be the original owner. so it's better to give it to the authorities dealing with lost items such as state security officers.

Yes, why not? It's not your property or asset, so why will you convert another person's property into yours? that's thieft. There's one religious lesson we learned one day that says that if you take what doesn't belong to you, then you will never make success with that which you stole. For example, if you take $10,000 that doesn't belong to you, you will just spend the money extravagantly; you can't archive any valuable assets with it. I think it's true, but I have not tried it and have not really seen anyone who has. Whatever one is doing, it's just good to show good morals and have a good conscience because what goes around comes around. Who knows, one day it might be you who misplaced something very valuable to you, and another person will also take it like you did to another.

Well, one can never know until they find themselves in that position but, my conscience won't let me be at peace if I find myself holding what doesn't belong to me or what I know for certain is hurting someone out there and worst still, when this person is known and you ca see the changes this event is bringing on his or her existence. That would be just so much go bare and there ist any pride in that.

I beleive I would be more comfortable handing it over rather than  keeping it to myself. I get to accord myself certain reputation and who knows, the person who has been done this good would never forget you and could also preach you to persons or organisations that could lewd to your uplifting some day. It pays to be good.

Every person is different and every situation is different as well. That woman did the right thing but, based on your story, she found the money in a hotel room so for example thanks to the electronic keys they could know she was the first person entering the room after the customer left, it's not that she found that money in the middle of nowhere. It would be interesting anyway to know how the customer could prove that he/she actually had that money.

Anyway going back to your example, which is pretty nonsense, how would you track back the original owner? Maybe besides the crypto wallet and the seed he lost also his ID?

so the private key is there  ;D ;D I would keep it until someone looking for it and I tell them to not bring a private key to an occasion like this it and of course give it back maybe the owner would send me 0.1 BTC as a reward hahahhahah

Or in my evil soul would send to my wallet and staking it somewhere and when person looking the btc i send the regular 3 btc while I get staking reward hehehhehe

Yes, I get your point; it's nearly impossible, but not as if it's something that's impossible. The OP never mentioned that it's something that happened; it's just an imaginary story, apart from the part where he said a cleaner came across $70k.
But for the imaginary part of the story, it's possible that something like that can happen; mistakes do happen. Ok, just come to think of it, what if it was a client that came to the hotel for a business deal and right there in that hotel he received the 3 bitcoins? Right in his hotel room, the passphrase is just on the bed. Then he rushed to the toilet, and the cleaner stepped in. Seeing the wallet phrase and the hardware wallet, he (the cleaner) just took them and left. The question now is whether he will return the wallet or just stop his job and run away, because he (the client) will definitely find out that the clearner took it.


Let me tell you about a mistake I made in the past. I had a small diary that contained quite a lot of secret information about myself, my experiences in life, and my wallet phrases. So one day I went out to do something at a cyber cafe, and I brought along my diary. After my business was over in that cafe, I forgot that diary there, and when I got home, I had already spent some hours at home before I realised I had forgotten my diary at the cafe shop. I immediately logged into my mobile wallet, and my asset was still there. I just created a new wallet and moved my assets from the old wallet to the new one. The reason was because the pass phrase for the wallet that contained my funds was written inside the diary.
And my question is, what if someone had mistakenly read the diary and seen those phrases? Maybe I would have lost my asset. So, all I am saying is that mistakes do happen unexpectedly.

For me if I find a bitcoin wallet with a seed and I know the owner of the wallet I will return it to him and ask for my reward, but if I can't find out the owner of the wallet I won't hand it over to the police anyway.

Bitcoin is illegal here in my country, so handing over the wallet to the police will cause problems primarily for the owner of the wallet and maybe for me as well, so it is better not to hand it over to the police and continue searching for the owner of the wallet by other means instead of getting involved in problems.

I believe in hard work & and I also believe that despite the hardship, corruption & troubles in this world, genuine good people still exist, just as you said a good name is better than silver or gold, what that woman did is exactly what I would have done if I happen to have found myself in such scenario, because I was trained since childhood to be ever always contented with the little I have, and I'm now contended, although 3 Bitcoin would have been a life changer to anyone who might have mistaken picked such huge amount, but yet, of what benefit will it be a build a foundation on a stolen fund, which most times happens to be a curse people bring upon themselves by taking what does not help to them.

I didn't expect read any comment from any user saying that they won't return it. Nobody would want to look like a morally depraved person. But unless the person who picked up the device and knows what the worth of the content is, there is going to be a mental battle that will start-off in their heads. It will be between right and wrong. What is good and what is bad. Especially if you are in a bad place. It would even become worse if you tell family and friends.

Whatever the case may be, the right thing must be done whether there is an external reward or not. Because the best reward is being proud of yourself that you did the right thing.

I'd report that I have it but I will not give it to the hotel must meet the owner in person

Yes - it's never the same as someone finding a physical wallet filled with fiat. Hardware wallet is completely useless if whoever finds it doesn't know how to access the assets inside. The wallet has an inherently strong cipher especially if the owner has a large amount of bitcoin or other vrypto assets.

Oh I agree - might be good for key decoration or something.

Exactly - I also recommend returning the wallet to its original owner. But I'm curious how one can know the amount of assets in someone else's hardware wallet?

Returning it to the owner is the best thing to do not only because it’s the ethical way but also it’s useless to owned the hardware wallet since you can’t access it without the seed phrase. The owner can easily import his backup seed phrase on a non custodial wallet to recover his funds immediately before you can brute force or reverse engineer a hard ware wallet.

You can receive a reward money to the owner if you returned rather than having a useless hardware wallet unless you sell it as second hand in the market.  :D

Lolz, 😂 you make me laugh bud, handing that over to the police will the the biggest and most foolish mistake you make in your lifetime..
And even going to the radio station to announce such a thing will only open doors to random scammers to try to claim they are the owner of the funds, and if you don't have a way of verifying who the true owner is, you might end up giving it to the wrong person through pressurization from claimers..

Best thing to do is, if you don't know who owns the bitcoin, and no means of locating the owner, and you don't also know anybody that might have a link to locating the true owner of the bitcoin, keep it, it's not a crime, and it's still better than dashing those bitcoins to the police who will still keep it to themselves.

In such a situation, it is imperative for me to return the money promptly. If the money does not belong to me, I have no right to use it, as I believe in a higher power that watches over us. If the money was found in a hotel, it would be relatively easy to return it, given there would be a record of the person who stayed there. However, if I cannot identify the rightful owner and their whereabouts, I would turn to social media and the press to seek help in locating them.

Should my efforts be unsuccessful, I would not hesitate to involve law enforcement. I would file a written complaint and hand over the money to them, so they can take appropriate actions and disseminate information to relevant parties. My utmost priority would be to ensure that the money finds its way back to its rightful owner, in accordance with my principles and the belief in doing the right thing.

How could I even return the money if OP says that I don't know who it belongs to?
If I found only the seed phrase to someone's wallet, curiosity would make me check it out to see how much money he has. I wouldn't steal his money, but I'd want to see who he is and maybe try to give him a warning that he should move. I'd probably send dust transactions from his wallet to let him know he's compromised.
If it was a hardware wallet with a password visible and I couldn't get to the person who lost it, I wouldn't leave it there. I'd of course take it and use it. Better me than some other random guy.

Will you hope that your hardware wallet that you carelessly lost never get back to you? I am sure you will pray that a good samaritan find the hardware wallet and try to locate the owner, only someone with a dead conscience will see something value like Bitcoin and not think about what the rightful owner will be going through.

If I see someone hardware wallet on the floor I will head to the police station first unless I can find the owner nearby, they must also have recovery seed as back up too I guess so even if I can't find the owner the Bitcoin is still safe because the recovery seed is stored somewhere by the owner.

But in care of the police will buy the right time for the owner to use recovery seed and recover the Bitcoin when he noticed that the hardware wallet is lost.

According to the story, the bitcoins was found in a hotel room. The hotel management will definitely have a record of the customers who previously occupied the room. I would inform the management and have them contact their list of customers who used the room recently to see which one is the owner. If perhaps they can’t reach the owner because of maybe wrong information in their books. I’d drop a email for them to reach me if someone comes searching.
  

First of all, I will say that Bitcoin and fiat currency are not the same, to open a hardware wallet or to make a transaction, many times its private key and the password of the owner of that wallet are needed, so if you don't think about morality here, then I don't think you will get any benefit from getting that hardware wallet or I will get any benefit.
And I don't think the owner of a wallet worth three bitcoins would be such an ass that he would leave it private with it. But if you think about the conscience, you can return that hardware wallet to the owner if you want, especially if you look at the list of passengers rented by that hotel, you will get his name, address or number and also sometime his email. So it's pretty simple or easy to find or locate the hardware wallet owner for just sending a mail on his email. Moreover, if you cannot connect or communicate on his email or mobile number, then talk to the authority of the place he is coming from, like if he is a foreigner, then communicate to their high commissioner or ambassador.

"Finders, keepers," right? Wrong. A unexpected windfall, especially an untraceable one like Bitcoin, is tempting, but its not ours. In such conditions, envy is natural but not moral.

Its tense. The cognitive contradiction between sudden prosperity and morality is difficult to resolve. Wisdom and cooperation are needed. No matter how doubtful we are that the missing cash would be returned, we must help. Inform the authorities, act honorably, and maintain your name.

Believe it or not, it really happens in real life. I know that there's a lot of people want to do good things and live with their lives to the fullest. But we didn't know what they're going through to life, that makes some good people to be bad. This comment was made to remind those people not to do bad things, but to put in their mind that if they always do good things in life just like returning what's not theirs will give peace of mind and good conscience.

If you turn to social media, that would be the start of your headache since there will be lots of impostors to claim the lost hardware wallet, I would not do that if I am in your situation.  The person who lost something important will definitely go back to places where he is been and will keep on inquiring about the lost object.  It would be easy if it happens in a hotel but it would be difficult if it happen else where.


That is one brilliant move, since you can report lost items to the authority and when time expires for the owner to claim the object, you can claim it yourself and be the rightful owner of that item.

Let's have a practical mind, a lost money in a hotel can be recovered by the owner itself, s/he just make a report/complaint in the hotel's management. Regardless if you knew the owner or not, the chance of it getting recovered is pretty high, cctv are all over the place, once they knew and saw that you're the one who is in charge in owner's room then you deny that you never get/found the money when its on the cctv, you will end up losing your job and getting imprisoned.

About the HW, no matter how do you look at it, once you knew how HW works, you can't recover or you can't open it in coz its protected by a pin. As a hotel worker, the chance of having the knowledge and tools to recover it is pretty low. So your best choice is handle it to the management coz owner will come back for it probably.