Is stealing Bitcoin illegal?

[airsounds]

obviously, any kind of stealing is illegal. but in the case of online sometimes it is a mistake, and we do not even know the owner of the address. so it really belong to you, and can be said no steal.

thats right, you cannot steal anything from other people because it would be definitely not allowed and you might face charges because of that

[Bestwishes745]

obviously, any kind of stealing is illegal. but in the case of online sometimes it is a mistake, and we do not even know the owner of the address. so it really belong to you, and can be said no steal.

Yeah, we cannot call it as steal if someone find some coins randomly and do not know that who is the owner and how to return then it is the gift to you and you can spend it if you do not find any person claiming for its ownership.

[virtualkeybuyer]

obviously, any kind of stealing is illegal. but in the case of online sometimes it is a mistake, and we do not even know the owner of the address. so it really belong to you, and can be said no steal.

Yes it is right that you find any thing which do not have any owner then you are not stealing, but it does not mean that you became its owner, there will be someone who will be the owner of it and one day you will find them, try to keep these amount with your self, one day someone will post here about the address as every user of bitcoin is working here and then you are responsible to refund his bitcoin.

[Mauser]

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 would say stealing is always illegal. But how is it stealing if you get a new wallet and bitcoins are already in it? If you didn't steal them. I assume you don't even know how they got in there. So it is not your fault.

May I ask how many coins you luckily obtained?

[Xester]

obviously, any kind of stealing is illegal. but in the case of online sometimes it is a mistake, and we do not even know the owner of the address. so it really belong to you, and can be said no steal.

As said, stealing is an offense 's is an illegal a activity. I am sure Bitcoin wallet is well secured with a vigilant protective system. How stealing is.possible. I heared people say, it can not be hacked. Am I right?

Bitcoin wallet is still prone to hacking. Hackers can get inside your wallet and change your password before they will transfer it to a certain sites like gambling sites to whitewash the stolen bitcoins.

By virtue stealing is a crime and must not be done for any reason. Whether it's legal or illegal we must not steal

[shinratensei_]

obviously, any kind of stealing is illegal. but in the case of online sometimes it is a mistake, and we do not even know the owner of the address. so it really belong to you, and can be said no steal.

Yeah, we cannot call it as steal if someone find some coins randomly and do not know that who is the owner and how to return then it is the gift to you and you can spend it if you do not find any person claiming for its ownership.

Hahaha, you can define the op sentences because it's very pointless. for example, the op can say the getting the amount by miracle but there know if the amount is owned by someone. there are a two different explained about the definition for this sentences.

[shashank5119]

Yes when u say stealing then yes its illegal.And bitcoin is a currency its also a money so stealing it surely illegal but what you are talking about is don’t think gonna happen.The chance to that happen is very very less.

[bitlancr]

Yes when u say stealing then yes its illegal.And bitcoin is a currency its also a money so stealing it surely illegal but what you are talking about is don’t think gonna happen.The chance to that happen is very very less.

Obviously these kind of practices are illegal and will get you end up i jail. There is no way how you sell this to a judge and avoid jail.
So no it's not a good thing to do.

[ghost15]

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.

for me it is the opposite,i generate a new address that has probably not been used on the network yet, and sent a small amount of 1mbtc to this address unfortunately I saw him disappear from my account after a few seconds.
I don't care whether it's legal or not but I consider the persone ho spend them as a robber

[20kevin20]

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.

for me it is the opposite,i generate a new address that has probably not been used on the network yet, and sent a small amount of 1mbtc to this address unfortunately I saw him disappear from my account after a few seconds.
I don't care whether it's legal or not but I consider the persone ho spend them as a robber

You're right, a robber is a robber no matter what he stole. Even if it's a pillow or a feather he found in my garden. It's stealing. And this has to be illegal everywhere, we don't need a law for hamburgers in case someone steals $1k worth of hamburgers from you..

[Arcteryx]

It should be illegal because it has value and if it is taken out of the possession of someone that is robbery

I read a story on here last week saying that the judge threw out a case because it involved bitcoin and therefore was not viewed as a real currency so no charges could be laid.

That there tells you how the judicial system views any transaction done with bitcoin as non-existent in the world.

[john2231]

It should be illegal because it has value and if it is taken out of the possession of someone that is robbery

I read a story on here last week saying that the judge threw out a case because it involved bitcoin and therefore was not viewed as a real currency so no charges could be laid.

That there tells you how the judicial system views any transaction done with bitcoin as non-existent in the world.

Yeah its illegal if you still bitcoin because its a bad idea to do to other people you will get a bad karma in your life.
Bitcoins is just like a money so you the case in the law will be the same..

[Arcteryx]

It should be illegal because it has value and if it is taken out of the possession of someone that is robbery

I read a story on here last week saying that the judge threw out a case because it involved bitcoin and therefore was not viewed as a real currency so no charges could be laid.

That there tells you how the judicial system views any transaction done with bitcoin as non-existent in the world.

Yeah its illegal if you still bitcoin because its a bad idea to do to other people you will get a bad karma in your life.
Bitcoins is just like a money so you the case in the law will be the same..

No that is not what I said. I said that the court of law does not view bitcoin the same as money. They THREW OUT that case when someone was saying that they got their bitcoin stolen from them.
That means the defendant LOST THE CASE IN COURT.
Comprende

[illyiller]

It should be illegal because it has value and if it is taken out of the possession of someone that is robbery

Theft is theft; of course stealing Bitcoin is illegal. But there are more interesting questions here. Like, for example: How can you prove that someone stole your bitcoins?

Let's say that someone found your unencrypted paper wallet and stole your bitcoin, moving them to an address he controls. Now, you might be able to prove that someone is spending your coins, and you might even be able to figure out who it is. But how do you prove that you didn't send them the coins intentionally (and aren't trying to fraudulently get them back)? How do you prove that you are the only person who controls that private key and therefore are the rightful owner?

I don't think these questions have precedence yet. It will be interesting to see how courts deal with this in the future.

[ASHLIUSZ]

It should be illegal because it has value and if it is taken out of the possession of someone that is robbery

I read a story on here last week saying that the judge threw out a case because it involved bitcoin and therefore was not viewed as a real currency so no charges could be laid.

That there tells you how the judicial system views any transaction done with bitcoin as non-existent in the world.

Yeah its illegal if you still bitcoin because its a bad idea to do to other people you will get a bad karma in your life.
Bitcoins is just like a money so you the case in the law will be the same..

No that is not what I said. I said that the court of law does not view bitcoin the same as money. They THREW OUT that case when someone was saying that they got their bitcoin stolen from them.
That means the defendant LOST THE CASE IN COURT.
Comprende

i think that Bitcoin is not actually a thing in law at the moment unless you count it as your intellectual property somehow. If you played a game like Rust and someone robbed your money or food etc could you press charges?.
The law is blind in areas that it hasn't gotten round to addressing, this could be one of them.

[twa]

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 that not matter what you steal, if you steal it is illegal. Same happens with bitcoins, even if you would be that lucky to create address with bitcoins in it

[Zadicar]

It should be illegal because it has value and if it is taken out of the possession of someone that is robbery

Theft is theft; of course stealing Bitcoin is illegal. But there are more interesting questions here. Like, for example: How can you prove that someone stole your bitcoins?

Let's say that someone found your unencrypted paper wallet and stole your bitcoin, moving them to an address he controls. Now, you might be able to prove that someone is spending your coins, and you might even be able to figure out who it is. But how do you prove that you didn't send them the coins intentionally (and aren't trying to fraudulently get them back)? How do you prove that you are the only person who controls that private key and therefore are the rightful owner?

I don't think these questions have precedence yet. It will be interesting to see how courts deal with this in the future.

I do also think what you are trying to state. Thats suppose  to be the hardest case if ever they would handle since  its really hard to trace or prove something  that are actually  involves anonymity. Court would definitely pass this kind of things instead i think. 

[hase0278]

I think stealing bitcoin is illegal. It is illegal because even if you are anonymous, there's no law that says you can steal bitcoin from other bitcoin users. Those who do steal bitcoin are brave to steal other's bitcoin. Stealing money is illegal so I think stealing bitcoin is illegal too since since it is also a currency it is just digital.

[Betwrong]

It should be illegal because it has value and if it is taken out of the possession of someone that is robbery

I read a story on here last week saying that the judge threw out a case because it involved bitcoin and therefore was not viewed as a real currency so no charges could be laid.

That there tells you how the judicial system views any transaction donewith bitcoin as non-existent in the world.

IMO that was just one particular case. How the judicial system views  any transaction done with bitcoin depends on the lawers and on the laws in a particular country. Stealing Bitocin is illegal and even creating a ponzi scheme involving Bitcoin is illegal too.

[Daniel91]

Very interesting question.
Of course, whatever someone still it should be illegal.
Real question here is if you really can report it to the4 authorities.
First, for example, in my country Bitcoin is not recognized as money or financial asset.
So, how I can report that someone stole my Bitcoin if authorities don't see it as real money or asset, but just something virtual, without any value?
It seems, if someone stole your Bitcoin, there is nothing you can do.