Is stealing Bitcoin illegal?

[madmartyk]

I remember a program a few years back that would generate private and address keys, It had a database of unused addresses and would alert you if it found a match.  Wonder what ever happened to it..

Yes, it's stealing, but here in the crypto world it doesn't seem to bother most people.
The exchanges close and keep the BTC
Devs collect ICOs and bolt with the BTC
Hardware companies presale equipment and never deliver and keep the BTC

It would be like finding money on the ground...  You can pick it up and ask did anyone lose this!!  I'm sure 90% of the users here would try to claim it!!

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[lexuz]

I think OP just wanted to justify that Bitcoin Stealing is not illegal, but he dont know that stealing is a stealing which means you are taking others things without getting their permission. Whether it is bitcoin or anything, which ever is taken without permission of the owner is considered as Illegal and as per law it is punishable, but in bitcoin it is hard to find the thief/hacker who have stolen or hacked the wallet and took the bitcoins from other wallet address, as it dont have the details about the holder of that wallet.

Yeah maybe but what the calification to make you can saying like that due it's only a question and i've a question for you about "stealing is a stealing" if there is a group of people who conceal something that was not for them, it's can said stealing too?

[Superbitzz]

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.

stealing of course illegal. but if what you say it, I think not a theft, when you generate a new address and in it there bitcoin belongs to someone else. but if you know the owner, it may be better to restore it. if you do not know the owner, meaning it belongs to you, and not considered as stealing.

yes you are right, stealing is some thing else if you are intentionally take some thing from a person without informing him it is called stealing and if you got some thing unexpectedly and without knowing about this, then you found some thing, but according to the Religion Islam if you found some thing and you do not know about the owner of the thing you should give it or distribute ti among the needy people on his name, but still you have no right to use it for your self.

[sana54210]

( Re: Is stealing Bitcoin illegal? )

So, when you asked your lawyer this question, what did he say?

I believe it depends on the quality of the lawyer..

-snip-

Lawyer will never suggest to not take the money. in fact he would say that accept it and later if any issues occurs I will take care of those. Because he is a professional and will seek profit in everything. Neither he has any sympathy with you or with the owner who own the bitcoins actually.

[Hide_ip112]

Yes, it's still stealing mate.
But nothing to worry in real life.

What?? Why not to worry ..?? . Something that can harm someone is an act which is not good and there is a chance the victim will seek to punish you according to what you do. Theft is not very well done and will be bad for you!!

[Holdaaja]

Yes, it's still stealing mate.
But nothing to worry in real life.

What?? Why not to worry ..?? . Something that can harm someone is an act which is not good and there is a chance the victim will seek to punish you according to what you do. Theft is not very well done and will be bad for you!!

This is nothing to worry in real life because it is pretty much impossible to ever generate same private key twice.
If you didn't read first post yet maybe you should do that before posting.

[serjent05]

I guess that stealing Bitcoin is illegal because if they do not belong to you then it is still considered stealing even if people think that Bitcoin is illegal as well.
So yes stealing Bitcoin is still not legal but there is not much that can be done if it happens.

Stealing bitcoin is illegal and a crime.  In myc country it is categorized as cyber crime and cyber crime penalty is 1 degree higher.  Meaning if the typical penalty for a crime is 1 month of imprisonment, it will be a year imprisonment.  Much weight on the cyber crime penalty.

[rickadone]

Yes! Of course stealing bitcoin is illegal. Still, if you find a forgotten wallet/lost wallet, it'll not be illegal. Because, owner of those bitcoin might have forgot about that.

disagree you are wrong because stealing of bitcoin is illegal in any situation ,so you can not say legal if one person steal bitcoin from other .

Agree with you about this but have one question then what to do with this if some one find any forgotten/lost wallet because he has no contact or any thing about him ?

If you find a lost wallet or a forgotten wallet, then I guess it's both fine and not fine to spend them for yourself as the decision would depend on how you would see it for yourself. Since, you do not have any contact with the owner of the wallet, it would be a waste to just leave the coins in there but then again, the owner might have been saving those coins for a long-term and you just happen to accidentally run across it.

yes but if you find a wallet and you do no know that who is the real owner of wallet and the owner also have no contact with you and you become satisfy that now it become difficult to find the owner of the wallet  then you have to distribute it among the needy people but you have no right to use it for your self,

I agree too. But this is a very tricky situation because it might be a exchange's address that is not been used since long.

I personally think anyone of us who finds such btc will take it but still its not right or legal to take it. May be the person who previously and still owns this bitcoins needs more than current access gainer.

[PancherBitCoin]

Yes, it's still stealing mate.
But nothing to worry in real life.

What?? Why not to worry ..?? . Something that can harm someone is an act which is not good and there is a chance the victim will seek to punish you according to what you do. Theft is not very well done and will be bad for you!!

If the theft on the Internet, to prove almost impossible, and punishment for the harm does not work.

[Yakamoto]

Yes, it's still stealing mate.
But nothing to worry in real life.

What?? Why not to worry ..?? . Something that can harm someone is an act which is not good and there is a chance the victim will seek to punish you according to what you do. Theft is not very well done and will be bad for you!!

If the theft on the Internet, to prove almost impossible, and punishment for the harm does not work.

There's definitely some ways to prove theft over the internet, and if you have enough people that are willing to find someone who committed a crime of some kind, believe me, they can. There are plenty of ways to prove theft occurred over the internet, it just requires some time and energy.

Punishments for crimes done online are also dished out whenever there is evidence, so I'm not sure what you're talking about.

[dippididodaday]

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 will not give a lecture - I am not a lecturer but let me give my opinion: in stead of asking is it legal or not, why not ask if those Bitcoin were belonging to you, would you want someone else to take it if the address match? From the answer you get when asking this question, it will give you direction of what you should do.

[Pattart]

Yes! Of course stealing bitcoin is illegal. Still, if you find a forgotten wallet/lost wallet, it'll not be illegal. Because, owner of those bitcoin might have forgot about that.

disagree you are wrong because stealing of bitcoin is illegal in any situation ,so you can not say legal if one person steal bitcoin from other .

Agree with you about this but have one question then what to do with this if some one find any forgotten/lost wallet because he has no contact or any thing about him ?

If you find a lost wallet or a forgotten wallet, then I guess it's both fine and not fine to spend them for yourself as the decision would depend on how you would see it for yourself. Since, you do not have any contact with the owner of the wallet, it would be a waste to just leave the coins in there but then again, the owner might have been saving those coins for a long-term and you just happen to accidentally run across it.

yes but if you find a wallet and you do no know that who is the real owner of wallet and the owner also have no contact with you and you become satisfy that now it become difficult to find the owner of the wallet  then you have to distribute it among the needy people but you have no right to use it for your self,

I think anything that is not yours even if you have access to get into the wallet easily. regardless wallet was used or not by the owner. still use traditional that is not yours is prohibited and includes illegal for harming others people. try you think when someone else uses your wallet. of course you do not want that to happen right ?

[bestluck]

Yes, it's still stealing mate.
But nothing to worry in real life.

What?? Why not to worry ..?? . Something that can harm someone is an act which is not good and there is a chance the victim will seek to punish you according to what you do. Theft is not very well done and will be bad for you!!

If the theft on the Internet, to prove almost impossible, and punishment for the harm does not work.

If the government and the internet providing company help then I think it will not be hard to punish the thief who will be involve in stealing anything on internet .

By the way anything which is taken without any permission of the owner is stealing.

[rekinthis]

Yes, it's still stealing mate.
But nothing to worry in real life.

What?? Why not to worry ..?? . Something that can harm someone is an act which is not good and there is a chance the victim will seek to punish you according to what you do. Theft is not very well done and will be bad for you!!

If the theft on the Internet, to prove almost impossible, and punishment for the harm does not work.

though it is still illegal if you actually dont think you will get punished you still shouldnt do that, no one knows if you will face trouble with law or not

[155UE]

It should be if it is not already.
If they do find this guy who stole all those coins in the bitfinex exchange then he will not get a jail sentence? That is very hard to believe. Or he will just flee the country where the authorities can touch him like thepiratebay operator did when they were convicted.

[Osarman]

Yes, it's still stealing mate.
But nothing to worry in real life.

What?? Why not to worry ..?? . Something that can harm someone is an act which is not good and there is a chance the victim will seek to punish you according to what you do. Theft is not very well done and will be bad for you!!

If the theft on the Internet, to prove almost impossible, and punishment for the harm does not work.

though it is still illegal if you actually dont think you will get punished you still shouldnt do that, no one knows if you will face trouble with law or not

you are right agree with you.

[Tricyraton]

In my opinion stealing anything including bitcoin that belongs to someone else is considered an illegal thing , i don't think its even possible to get an address that has BTC inside it , its impossible .

[JeffBrad12]

Yes, it's still stealing mate.
But nothing to worry in real life.

What?? Why not to worry ..?? . Something that can harm someone is an act which is not good and there is a chance the victim will seek to punish you according to what you do. Theft is not very well done and will be bad for you!!

If the theft on the Internet, to prove almost impossible, and punishment for the harm does not work.

though it is still illegal if you actually dont think you will get punished you still shouldnt do that, no one knows if you will face trouble with law or not

Okay, this just about yourself because only you know about that and nothing another people will know about it and it's not a problem. maybe the problem is in your heart between wanna to taking or nothing.

[Achargeturry78]

Stealing is always illegal things, even on bitcoin too. But there is no big rule to rule that thieves, like a jail for them, so it's make anyone want stealing bitcoin out there.

yes , stealing is always illegal but for other people who always do something to steal bitcoin , to people they don't have souls like they creating investment website where they gonna wait until more people invest on their website and then run after a days this people are greedy to wealth and the money is always their god i hate when someone stealing money .

[Lombard]

i think it is illegal to steal anything, not matter what it is, online item, currency, or real life one, if you steal that, you do illegal thing. if i were you i wouldn't steal any bitcoins