Is stealing Bitcoin illegal?

[Rockie1234]

Of course stealing Bitcoin is illegal. The thing is that most people aren't caught. If you generated an address that had Bitcoin in it, it would be very easy to just mix the coins and run away with the Btc.
Unless you are a high profile hacker, the sad part is that a scammer will not be caught. It is too easy to exchange the coins or mix them until they are safe to cash out. Of course that doesn't make any of it ethical or the "right" thing to do.

[madwica]

stealing is illegal no one will tolerate that, but in OP statement i think it is not stealing he only a lucky guy that generate bitcoin with already have amount of bitcoin storing on that.

[Schuyler]

Even if its stealing that which like Robinhood did in the story books, that is still considered illegal. No one should take away without consent something that belongs to another. Some people would justify their stealing because they are doing it to benefit others, but it is just not right, be it bitcoin, fiat, gold or another man's possession.

[hungryFinest]

Any stealing act for anything to anyone is still illegal wether it is online pr not.All stealing avt is considered a crime as long as you dont have permissions of the real owner

The real owner? Who decides that if it's possible for me to generate the same address? Just because I generated it after shouldn't mean it's illegal. It's not like exploiting an online wallet to steal private keys and drain the accounts.

I feel like you guys are just guessing to be honest, I want to know if it's legal or illegal to take bitcoins out of an address you just generated.

No stealing bitcoins is not illegal because they dont know who owns the bitcoins because they are untraceable and that means that you are free to will to steal other their bitcoins

[bryant.coleman]

Of course stealing Bitcoin is illegal. The thing is that most people aren't caught. If you generated an address that had Bitcoin in it, it would be very easy to just mix the coins and run away with the Btc. Unless you are a high profile hacker, the sad part is that a scammer will not be caught. It is too easy to exchange the coins or mix them until they are safe to cash out. Of course that doesn't make any of it ethical or the "right" thing to do.

I would disagree with your statement. In most of the high-profile Bitcoin robberies (Mt Gox, Sheep Marketplace.etc), the identity of the thief is known to us. But the most important thing is that the current laws are inadequate in dealing with the Bitcoin robberies. Most of the governments have not recognized Bitcoin as a form of currency or asset. It complicates everything.

[RawDog]

Any stealing act for anything to anyone is still illegal wether it is online pr not.All stealing avt is considered a crime as long as you dont have permissions of the real owner

The real owner? Who decides that if it's possible for me to generate the same address? Just because I generated it after shouldn't mean it's illegal. It's not like exploiting an online wallet to steal private keys and drain the accounts.

I feel like you guys are just guessing to be honest, I want to know if it's legal or illegal to take bitcoins out of an address you just generated.

No stealing bitcoins is not illegal because they dont know who owns the bitcoins because they are untraceable and that means that you are free to will to steal other their bitcoins

Stealing bitcoins is good.  Not illegal.

All you are really doing anyway is adding some numbers to a ledger on other people's computers.   This is totally OK.  Thus stealing bitcoin is not even illegal.  It is good. 

[Docnaster]

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.

If you generated a new address it's all fresh , but in the accident you generatedly a fresh bitcoin wallet address and suddenly miracle happens accidentaly you are receiving approximately 0.5 bitcoin what will you doo? Aren't you guys not going to send it back from the owner? Or you just Ignored it and thanky to the them. LoL

[numismatist]

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.

If you generated a new address it's all fresh , but in the accident you generatedly a fresh bitcoin wallet address and suddenly miracle happens accidentaly you are receiving approximately 0.5 bitcoin what will you doo? Aren't you guys not going to send it back from the owner? Or you just Ignored it and thanky to the them. LoL

How very low, in mathematical numbers? pow(2, 512) ?
There once has been a webpage containing each and every BTC address. Just has been faked up by generating the pages on demand.

[bhadz]

stealing is illegal no one will tolerate that, but in OP statement i think it is not stealing he only a lucky guy that generate bitcoin with already have amount of bitcoin storing on that.

Yes I think if that accident is going to happen then that is not going to be considered as stealing because you did not stole it from someone.
Just like the incident in this thread : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1621994

[beamforming2]

Stealing is stealing, no doubt about that.
Why would it be any different if it were fiat that you were stealing?
The value of them are relatively the same with more bitcoin is worth. Undecided

[kanazawa]

Ha... C'mon brou, stealing BTC is pretty much the same as steal money or any other goods. This question is extremely weird because if bitcoins cost money it's obviouly a stealing. I'm just responding this thread because many people think like robbers (and when I mean robber it's those sick f*** kids who think that even when money came easy for someone else, it  justify the rob). Many people here steal in scam mode, many don't give a f*** for collaterals when make a loan or when cheat a site like btcjams. That's why some countries with people who doesn't care for a bank loan, the interest tax is very high and I know well the bank offer logic, but many cool and honest people are fu*** because they can use credit or get an emergency loan. Like somebody here said Stealing is Stealing, money is money, robber is robber.

[batang_bitcoin]

Stealing is stealing, no doubt about that.
Why would it be any different if it were fiat that you were stealing?
The value of them are relatively the same with more bitcoin is worth. Undecided

Yes! Even though others are saying bitcoin is still not covered by the law, but we must stick we our morality that stealing is really a bad act. It is a criminal act no matter what and where a person is going to do that. If it is cyber stealing or not and still it remains a criminal act. But if that is just an accident of sending someones bitcoin then that is not a crime at all, you can just return it to the sender.

[Athenasian]

No it is not illegal and cannot be considered stealing.  It is already there. 

[Harlot]

Stealing is stealing, no doubt about that.
Why would it be any different if it were fiat that you were stealing?
The value of them are relatively the same with more bitcoin is worth. Undecided

Yes! Even though others are saying bitcoin is still not covered by the law, but we must stick we our morality that stealing is really a bad act. It is a criminal act no matter what and where a person is going to do that. If it is cyber stealing or not and still it remains a criminal act. But if that is just an accident of sending someones bitcoin then that is not a crime at all, you can just return it to the sender.

The legality of bitcoin is still into question. Because if stealing bitcoin is illegal no fake companies, investment centers, hyipswill exist online. I don't think FBI has interest in catching people who stole virtual money.

[InsideBjorn]

Stealing in general is illegal. Bitcoins? Ofcourse. It's a currency. It's stealing money basically.

Only difference is chances of your getting caught is less with Bitcoin.That is why bitcoin should be used with much care a needs to kept safely

Yeah indeed. Ofcourse stealing bitcoin is illegal cause taking anything which isn't yours without permission is illegal. BUT they can't really catch you so easily cause bitcoin is so anonymous so it's the perfect crime but still it's a crime.

[ObscureBean]

Stealing in general is illegal. Bitcoins? Ofcourse. It's a currency. It's stealing money basically.

Only difference is chances of your getting caught is less with Bitcoin.That is why bitcoin should be used with much care a needs to kept safely

Yeah indeed. Ofcourse stealing bitcoin is illegal cause taking anything which isn't yours without permission is illegal. BUT they can't really catch you so easily cause bitcoin is so anonymous so it's the perfect crime but still it's a crime.

It seems a lot of you guys are answering the question from the header directly, you should read op's scenario. I don't think it's stealing because in his scenario he didn't plan to take anyone's Bitcoins. He merely created a new address and found Bitcoins in it, he didn't 'steal' them, he got them because of some glitch. In a case like this I would totally keep the coins for myself 

[BeGoods]

Stealing in general is illegal. Bitcoins? Ofcourse. It's a currency. It's stealing money basically.

Only difference is chances of your getting caught is less with Bitcoin.That is why bitcoin should be used with much care a needs to kept safely

Yeah indeed. Ofcourse stealing bitcoin is illegal cause taking anything which isn't yours without permission is illegal. BUT they can't really catch you so easily cause bitcoin is so anonymous so it's the perfect crime but still it's a crime.

It seems a lot of you guys are answering the question from the header directly, you should read op's scenario. I don't think it's stealing because in his scenario he didn't plan to take anyone's Bitcoins. He merely created a new address and found Bitcoins in it, he didn't 'steal' them, he got them because of some glitch. In a case like this I would totally keep the coins for myself 

I think people do not see the contents topic of OP, people only look at the title of this topic only
I think it is impossible that there bitcoin is ready for a new bitcoin address created, even you can not send bitcoin to any address ?
so I think it is impossible to obtain bitcoin simply create an address Lol

[dunfida]

Stealing in general is illegal. Bitcoins? Ofcourse. It's a currency. It's stealing money basically.

Only difference is chances of your getting caught is less with Bitcoin.That is why bitcoin should be used with much care a needs to kept safely

Yeah indeed. Ofcourse stealing bitcoin is illegal cause taking anything which isn't yours without permission is illegal. BUT they can't really catch you so easily cause bitcoin is so anonymous so it's the perfect crime but still it's a crime.

It seems a lot of you guys are answering the question from the header directly, you should read op's scenario. I don't think it's stealing because in his scenario he didn't plan to take anyone's Bitcoins. He merely created a new address and found Bitcoins in it, he didn't 'steal' them, he got them because of some glitch. In a case like this I would totally keep the coins for myself 

you have a point , OP  just accidentally  generated a new bitcoin address which theres already funds in it which is a very rare scenario  because as we all know new addresses are unique  and  cant possibly have identical. In his case  it wont be considered as stealing since he dont use force or does have any intentions to steal it from the owner.

[abayan]

Stealing in general is illegal. Bitcoins? Ofcourse. It's a currency. It's stealing money basically.

Only difference is chances of your getting caught is less with Bitcoin.That is why bitcoin should be used with much care a needs to kept safely

Yeah indeed. Ofcourse stealing bitcoin is illegal cause taking anything which isn't yours without permission is illegal. BUT they can't really catch you so easily cause bitcoin is so anonymous so it's the perfect crime but still it's a crime.

It seems a lot of you guys are answering the question from the header directly, you should read op's scenario. I don't think it's stealing because in his scenario he didn't plan to take anyone's Bitcoins. He merely created a new address and found Bitcoins in it, he didn't 'steal' them, he got them because of some glitch. In a case like this I would totally keep the coins for myself 

I think people do not see the contents topic of OP, people only look at the title of this topic only
I think it is impossible that there bitcoin is ready for a new bitcoin address created, even you can not send bitcoin to any address ?
so I think it is impossible to obtain bitcoin simply create an address Lol

I agree with you. It is not easily to obtain bitcoin in just generating your bitcoin address. It is very verry imposible because it is new address and the address is not the property of others it is on you.

[equator]

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.

The thing which is highly not possible, what is their to comment. Even if happens what you are telling then it is yours because this is not stealing , this is what we call you found it as a miracle.