Is stealing Bitcoin illegal?

[mark coins]

Yeah you the topics says it already, stealing Bitcoin is illegal because it does not belong to you when you are stealing it.
But because it is online and Bitcoin is anonymous I am not sure if they are able to prevent it.

i think stealing of every thing is illegal. but if you got it by chance then certainly it is not your fault but still you have to return it if you know the owner of the bitcoin who sent it by fault.

If you hack someone's account and steal it then its illegal but if someone mistakenly sends you then its not your fault and you can always return them if you find the right owner.

[Wendigo]

Well if you happen to miraculously end up with someone else's coins in your own Bitcoin wallet I guess the Bitcoins will be pretty much yours to keep as long as you don't attempt to exchange them because the original owner might trace them to the Bitcoin exchange and contact them as to halt the withdrawal. Stealing is outlawed everywhere but because Bitcoinland is the Wild West right now you can just keep the coins unless your conscience says otherwise.

[phreaky]

Of stealing Bitcoin is illegal because you are stealing that means that it does not belong to you to it is illegal if you do it.
The thing is that most people can get away with it which is a real problem if you ask me.

[DaddyMonsi]

Stealing is stealing, regardless of what was stolen (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Physical Coin etc) so no need to elaborate if stealling Bitcoin is illegal and I cant recall a certain country that legalizes stealing, is there such?

[Red-Apple]

Yeah you the topics says it already, stealing Bitcoin is illegal because it does not belong to you when you are stealing it.
But because it is online and Bitcoin is anonymous I am not sure if they are able to prevent it.

i think stealing of every thing is illegal. but if you got it by chance then certainly it is not your fault but still you have to return it if you know the owner of the bitcoin who sent it by fault.

If you hack someone's account and steal it then its illegal but if someone mistakenly sends you then its not your fault and you can always return them if you find the right owner.

that is all technically true. but OP is not technically asking about stealing bitcoin or sending it by mistake. his choice of title for his question was wrong. as it was explained before he is asking about something called collision which has such a low chance that it will never happen.

[~Bitcoin~]

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.

ok so even this came true, i don't think this will be considered illegal as you have just tried to generate new bitcoin address rather than trying to find out private key of already exist bitcoin address.

[Maesters1-]

Of stealing Bitcoin is illegal because you are stealing that means that it does not belong to you to it is illegal if you do it.
The thing is that most people can get away with it which is a real problem if you ask me.

yes that  is a fact stealing of anything is illegal either it is bitcon or bitcoin wallet or some thing else but we will consider it as a stealing in real life. so it s morally not good to steal.

[Raja_MBZ]

I'm hoping that you are not going to try that... The probability of you finding any thing like that is almost negligible. You should not try it nor use the bitcoin if you find any public key carrying bitcoin.

[martinacar]

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.

ok so even this came true, i don't think this will be considered illegal as you have just tried to generate new bitcoin address rather than trying to find out private key of already exist bitcoin address.

Let's be clear about this.
Morally it is wrong, but yes you already knew that.
Legally this seems something that needs law making, but let's face it, every judge will punish you if it went to court...

[serjent05]

Of stealing Bitcoin is illegal because you are stealing that means that it does not belong to you to it is illegal if you do it.
The thing is that most people can get away with it which is a real problem if you ask me.

yes that  is a fact stealing of anything is illegal either it is bitcon or bitcoin wallet or some thing else but we will consider it as a stealing in real life. so it s morally not good to steal.

If there is no regulation about cyber crimes, basically you can't be sued with stealing online.  Further thinking on this case, this isn't stealing because you don't do anything but a coincident that the address  you created already have bitcoin in it.  But morally, it is still debatable since first,, you don't know  who is the owner of the coin.  Second, you dont do anything nor intention to steal someones  bitcoin.  Then third if it is not encrypted with password, then I can say this maybe a gift so you can use  it anytime.

[Ewinsane]

yes stealing of bitcoin is illegal , stealing of everything is illegal  money , bitcoin , property etc .

[wedatin]

yes stealing of bitcoin is illegal , stealing of everything is illegal  money , bitcoin , property etc .

But according to some Ethereum trolls, stealing the DAO due to a back door is not illegal. So I am confused.

[bestluck]

yes stealing of bitcoin is illegal , stealing of everything is illegal  money , bitcoin , property etc .

But according to some Ethereum trolls, stealing the DAO due to a back door is not illegal. So I am confused.

Actually stealing mean, you get someone else assets, property etc without his/her permission, and with that you harm him, so it is not allowed in any rule, Law or Religion.

[takingthis4]

Yeah you the topics says it already, stealing Bitcoin is illegal because it does not belong to you when you are stealing it.
But because it is online and Bitcoin is anonymous I am not sure if they are able to prevent it.

i think stealing of every thing is illegal. but if you got it by chance then certainly it is not your fault but still you have to return it if you know the owner of the bitcoin who sent it by fault.

of course without any doubts stealing anything is illegal, it is just wrong to take something that is not yours without the persons permission, in my opinion you should never steal bitcoins

[PokemonFun]

I dont know why if somebody was send money in bitcoin cryptocurrency to wrong adress, like example to ms adress and if I take that money then it is not stealling money and it is not illegal  that is then mystake from that persok which sended that money becase he isnt careful enought.Same example is sokebody lost money in street and then that money dont belong to nobody  so how later he can prove that thag money is their money?

[PeRo]

Of course, Bitcoin stealing is ilegal, it is the same as stealing fiat currency, stealing is stealing, no matterr what are you stealing.
But luckily, it is pretty much impossible and very hard to do, only if someone exploits your computer and gains access to your files and make administrator permissions for himself to find your private keys and steal your Bitcoins.

[PokemonFun]

Just be careful and dont login to your bitcoin wallet site when somebody send you link because it dan be philishing link to stole email,username and password.One user from facebook was trying to send me facebook link where I need to write Username and password to open that site but in useename I was just writed You are stupid hacker and in password I was write eatmyshitasshole and after that I clicked next and I saw site with ads and nowhere buttom where I can singup so he was provably stupid hacker or I was too clever facebook user.

[katrimans]

Yes it is illegal as to steal Bitcoin you have to hack someone's wallet and we know that hacking is illegal world wide....

Well you probably didn't even read OP's post.
He was saying that if he generated an address and it overlapped with an existing one with some coins address's private-kep in it and he was asking if it would be illegal to steal them. Never did he mention about hacking into a bitcoin wallet or anything similar to that.

[Betwrong]

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.

Well, the probability of that happening would be close to transformation of your clothes in the washing machine into packs of US Dollars. Is that a forgery of bank bills? I don't know,  it's better to consult a lawyer.

[GamingOn]

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.

Well, the probability of that happening would be close to transformation of your clothes in the washing machine into packs of US Dollars. Is that a forgery of bank bills? I don't know,  it's better to consult a lawyer.

One of these scenarios is impossible one is (very) unlikely. Don't think this is a good example of it. I think a better way of putting it would be you woke up and found a bunch of money in your washing machine and then got struck by lightning the same day. Very very unlikely, lol.