Is stealing Bitcoin illegal?

[Cresciuanto]

stealing of every think s illegal. there is not doubt about this. but if you dont know that where does these bitcoin comes from. then its mean that you have not stole it. then how can you say that it is stealing. you steal it by using some illegal spirit then it is stealing.

[sishendaoye]

stealing of every think s illegal. there is not doubt about this. but if you dont know that where does these bitcoin comes from. then its mean that you have not stole it. then how can you say that it is stealing. you steal it by using some illegal spirit then it is stealing.

Stealing, whenever, whatever is illegal. Every country has a law against it, and since the internet seems to be without boundaries, there are boundaries.
And stealing is crossing that boundary.

[elite3000]

Steal things always is illegal, but in your situation there would not be steal of anything.

In BTC no one really owns BTC, they own a code that allow you to move a certain amount of Bitcoins. You can steal the private key, but not the BTC itself.

If you somehow generated a private key that has BTC inside without stealing it or doing other illegal stuff, then you are not stealing, and you have the right to move the BTC if you wish.

If you should or should not do it, it is up to you

[avikz]

stealing anything is illegal even if it is a ice cream from a baby and bitcoin is a serious matter. So definitely stealing bitcoin is illegal.

But why do you want to steal other's bitcoin when you can earn bitcoin very easily? Try signature and avatar campaigns and you will earn around 7-8 USD every week. Which you can use in trading and multiply your holdings like anything. Try legal and ethical ways bro, don't steal.

[serjent05]

Let's say I generate a new address and by some miracle it has Bitcoin already in it belonging to somebody else. Is it legal to just take it? I understand those odds are very low, no need to lecture me, I'm just interested.

Morally it is not good to steal bitcoin.  Under some country, it is under  cyberlaw.  And the penalty is one degree higher.  So stealing bitcoin is punishable by law in some country and consider as illegal.  Though the chance of you generating previously owned BTC is really next to impossible.

[jukka]

depends on your local law. where i live i would assume that stealing btc is illegal.

[bitcoinbox]

Let's say I generate a new address and by some miracle it has Bitcoin already in it belonging to somebody else. Is it legal to just take it? I understand those odds are very low, no need to lecture me, I'm just interested.

It is not only stealing, it is also bad for the all bitcoin community.

[shugareward]

Like as everyone said, stealing is illegal by law and morally, so I think the best decision would be just to try earn bitcoin by yourself, stealing will just make more problems.

[batang_bitcoin]

stealing anything is illegal even if it is a ice cream from a baby and bitcoin is a serious matter. So definitely stealing bitcoin is illegal.

But why do you want to steal other's bitcoin when you can earn bitcoin very easily? Try signature and avatar campaigns and you will earn around 7-8 USD every week. Which you can use in trading and multiply your holdings like anything. Try legal and ethical ways bro, don't steal.

Exactly. Stealing anything is really illegal at all. Regardless on what you are going to steal.
Stealing is stealing even how big or small thing you are going to steal.

[fluidjax]

Theft in English law is:
   "dishonest appropriation of property belonging to another with the intention to permanently deprive"

Each key word is loaded with legal meaning.
I'd say if you deliberately took bitcoins from someone else, and an average person would consider that act dishonest, plus you didn't ever intend to give them back, that will satisfy all the requirements to make it a theft.

[kryptqnick]

Let's say I generate a new address and by some miracle it has Bitcoin already in it belonging to somebody else. Is it legal to just take it? I understand those odds are very low, no need to lecture me, I'm just interested.

I think it really depends on a country. On your one and on a country of smb you steal from. In some countries btc is out of law (you can do anything with it if they don't have the a precedent in law), in others it might be a serious crime

[Raimonn]

Let's say I generate a new address and by some miracle it has Bitcoin already in it belonging to somebody else. Is it legal to just take it? I understand those odds are very low, no need to lecture me, I'm just interested.

This is an interesting question, it might be like walking on street and finding some money on the floor. Will you catch this money? if don't the next person that see the money will catch it.
In other case stealing bitcoins is illegal like stealing any other things.

[olubams]

Let's say I generate a new address and by some miracle it has Bitcoin already in it belonging to somebody else. Is it legal to just take it? I understand those odds are very low, no need to lecture me, I'm just interested.

I think it really depends on a country. On your one and on a country of smb you steal from. In some countries btc is out of law (you can do anything with it if they don't have the a precedent in law), in others it might be a serious crime

I think it is just a bug if that happens and it is not going to be a miracle if that happens because it is going to be a bug for sure.
And if that happens for sure you are not stealing at all and it is not your fault.
You are just lucky after all.

Let's say I generate a new address and by some miracle it has Bitcoin already in it belonging to somebody else. Is it legal to just take it? I understand those odds are very low, no need to lecture me, I'm just interested.

j
Taking whatever does not belong to you is wrong from the moral point of view however the determination of whether illegal or not is left to law to decide and in this case to the best of my knowledge in countries where Bitcoin is not legalizd then its not illegal from the legal point of view but from the moral point, it is wrong... My 2cents...

[QuestionAuthority]

So are you planning on opening a Bitcoin exchange or a cloud mining business? ROFL

[olubams]

Let's say I generate a new address and by some miracle it has Bitcoin already in it belonging to somebody else. Is it legal to just take it? I understand those odds are very low, no need to lecture me, I'm just interested.

j
Taking whatever does not belong to you is wrong from the moral point of view however the determination of whether illegal or not is left to law to decide and in this case to the best of my knowledge in countries where Bitcoin is not legalizd then its not illegal from the legal point of view but from the moral point, it is wrong... My 2cents...

[smho_16]

Let's say I generate a new address and by some miracle it has Bitcoin already in it belonging to somebody else. Is it legal to just take it? I understand those odds are very low, no need to lecture me, I'm just interested.

j
Taking whatever does not belong to you is wrong from the moral point of view however the determination of whether illegal or not is left to law to decide and in this case to the best of my knowledge in countries where Bitcoin is not legalizd then its not illegal from the legal point of view but from the moral point, it is wrong... My 2cents...

Let's say that you did get that bitcoin by miracle do you think you can keep on living your life like this ? I think this is a miserable life to live and yes it is wrong as long as it is stealing. It can bring you no good.

[bitdumper]

yes it is a 100% illigal act but if i got that type of chance then maybe i will not miss it  , we are at a anonymous system and i got free money without any hard work(attempting  hacking for 3years on a single phone)

[Diver6691]

As I know , correct me if I'm wrong , one address can be produced from multiple private keys .
Just in theory , lets say that I have send one bitcoin to "X" address using my "A" private key .
Someone generates the same address with "B" private key.
He can see my one bitcoin , but can he spend it without having my "A" private key ?

[Viyamore]

Yes for me it is illegal although stealing is also a bad habit to do .but i think when you steal it when someone finds or knows that you stole that bitcoin it can be file as robbery if i am not wrong?

[calkob]

i would consider it stealing, if you deprive someone of something that they own and they can no longer have it then that is stealing...... and is also the reason that file sharing is not stealing as both parties can have it at the same time.