Is stealing Bitcoin illegal?

[KingdomHearts]

Yes, stealing in any form is illegal, be it Bitcoin or fiat. Infact it's people's hard earned money and stealing it just because you could be undetectable is unethical. Stealing impacts in a great way, it impacts even how the market performs, just like when a lot of Bitcoins are stolen from large exchanges. It's always better to safeguard your Bitcoins.

yes there is no doubt about this. stealing of every thing is bad. and bitcoin is a currency just like your fiat currency so stealing of bitcoin means that you are stealing the property of some one. or stealing money from him.

yes that is absolutely right. stealing of bitcoin means that if you are going to steal money from some one or to steal some thing having high value. so it is not good to steal bitcoin from some one.

you are right that stealing of everything is illegal like in shape of money , gold and bitcoin mean any thing to steal is illegal and they will be must punished by law of government or any organization.

[outatime1]

I would assume this would be illegal. It is definitely unethical to take someone else's money. However, it would be hard to prove who took it.

[YTBitcoin]

I would assume this would be illegal. It is definitely unethical to take someone else's money. However, it would be hard to prove who took it.

Yeah it is unethical to take someone else money unless he give you that amount willingly, the better option is that you should have to return that amount to the holder of the address if it is unable to find, then remove that address.

[Xenophoto]

I think stealing anything from anyone is against the law and is an immoral act. In Bitcoin, when someone steals your money, it's highly unlikely that you will catch the thief in real life. Tracing someone online is quite hard specially if the thief is good at hiding his IP address and his whereabouts. You have to know the whereabouts of the thief to catch him in real life.

[lionheart78]

This is the same thing as, Is hacking illegal?  Basically they need to hack your computer to steal your bitcoin.  So yeah stealing Bitcoin is illegal.  Worst is in my country any crime committed in internet falls under cyber crime law that gives penalty one degree higher than the usual stealing / robbery  case.

[blackmachinegun]

This is the same thing as, Is hacking illegal?  Basically they need to hack your computer to steal your bitcoin.  So yeah stealing Bitcoin is illegal.  Worst is in my country any crime committed in internet falls under cyber crime law that gives penalty one degree higher than the usual stealing / robbery  case.

Yeah although bitcoin does not have any legislation. but bitcoin is already yours. a person who has entered into a purse
or your house and take what is in it is to steal and activities that harm others people of course it is illegal activity dude

[20kevin20]

That's like asking if stealing drugs is illegal... Of course it is, but as soon as you call the police, you can both be guilty for it. Maybe BTC is illegal in your country, or... Who knows?

[Soros Shorts]

In the OP's example, the analogy would be equivalent to digging a random hole in the dessert and by chance finding somebody else's buried treasure. That somebody is probably still alive and intends to retrieve the treasure at some later point in time. I think that it is still illegal since you are taking somebody else's property that was not abandoned.

[Junko]

I don't think there are any laws specifically stating creating an address that already has someone else's bitcoin in it and then keeping that bitcoin for yourself is illegal. However, I do believe there are laws stating that taking other's people's property in general without their consent is stealing and therefore illegal.

[Ewinsane]

yes stealing of bitcoin already illegal and anything to steal is illegal .

[dotajhay]

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.

Yes, stealing is illegal because it has bad effect to the people who stealed their bitcoins , people who have no heart will do it and the hackers 

[Kelarid]

I would assume this would be illegal. It is definitely unethical to take someone else's money. However, it would be hard to prove who took it.

I agree with that. But according to some bitcoin shills, stealing Ethereum from DAO is legal even though it against to the DAO holder's wills.

[CryptoBjorn]

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.

Yes, stealing is illegal because it has bad effect to the people who stealed their bitcoins , people who have no heart will do it and the hackers 

It's not about a bad effect, but it's about against the law. Stealing, however stated is always wrong.
What happened with the DAO was a bug in the code, and although the situation is different it's still called stealing.

[uname]

I never exactly understood how people justify stealing. Its really sad, its become part of American culture from politics to your everyday craigslist scammer. Its ridiculous.

Lol yeah it was very clear that stealing is taking the rights of others. and of course it will hurt anyone. so I think it is illegal

[bitcoinlover1]

Bitcoin is a money and stealing a money is absolutely illegal actually stealing anything is illegal and bitcoin has a good nice value to how it can be legal.

[satdas]

i think stealing of not only bitcoin but stealing of every thing is against the law. and it is morally not good. it is a sin.

[satdas]

yes stealing of every thing is wrong and illegal morally and every lawfully. similarly stealing of bitcoin is also a sin.

[amine14madrid]

In your case it sounds like you found it, and who found it can keep it! But that doesn't mean that you can't try to find the real owner and return coins. Stealing is when you take something from someone, no matter what, and that is not nice thing to do.
Finding things like money or something that worth is just luck. But like someone said, chances to find wallet with money inside is like you are waiting money to fall from the sky. Almost impossible!

[thebetsport]

bitcoin is anonymous so not regulated still work
but several country ready regulated legal about bitcoin example japan USA and more

[mrkevio]

Since when is stealing something legal? Of course it is illegal to steal Bitcoin. It's easy to steal, and if it was legal... Everyone would've become thieves don't scam guys, the bad stuff you do ALWAYS turns against you.