Is stealing Bitcoin illegal?

[RoommateAgreement]

why is this topic still on top?!

the OP is not asking about "stealing bitcoin". it is good to sometimes read the first post before spamming here guys!

he is talking about a rare (impossible) scenario where he can accidentally create an address with bitcoin on it.

[justspare]

Bitcoin is considered a currency. If you steal any kind of currency, then you are stealing. If you went up to a guy and took his fiat, you would go to jail for robbery. It is the same way with Bitcoin, if you went up to a guy and stole his private key that gave you access to all of his Bitcoin.

[TheSnow]

You mean there is no law yet? However there is law for thyself. If you can manage to supress your conscience then it is not illegal. But can you take it even if you will be thinking about it everyday and giving you chills when you remember what you have done?

This is about our own thinking and principle.Today is rare to find someone who talking about this because this is 2016 bro.All is about the money.Many of people will not thinking either the money they got is illegal or not.Even we have a low,we still break it.

[DrGuns4Hands]

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 is illegal always , but in your case and question its hard to locate who's the real owner of that btc , so it's not your fault .

[septiumwolf]

Stealing is absolutely illegal..if proven.

Now the question is, is there any obvious way to proof that a stolen coin is indeed your money? It is possible that you might transferred your money to the thief (which is not considered as stealing)

[Dudeperfect]

I won’t give lecture on morality because we all know that it’s wrong but let’s discuss it as a case. I think, yes it’s possible but it’s not going to happen in next 1,000 years for sure and till then crypto currency might have some totally different technology that would make security at its peak level. There is near to -1,000% possibility of the probability of having bitcoins in newly created address.

[mk4]

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.

you have thirty eight pages of reply for this question,here is my input from my part,if you generate a new address and there wont be any miracle to have some bitcoin already in that wallet,the chances are slim and it is an impossible scenario ,if you take somebody's asset without their knowledge it is termed as theft

this. I think you have more chances of winning the lottery than getting a address that has bitcoins on it; and I dont even know if that is possible.

[drakker]

If that's gonna happen I thinks its pretty sure that it is illegal. It is a kind of stealing if you will use that bitcoin. It's someones earnings and not yours. Maybe you can search for the real owner of that address and tell him/her that you shared the same address. Maybe he will give you a bounty for telling the truth. And also you will have a +credit to your good deeds.

[krishna1]

yes it is illigal but if you are not caught then i do not think anyone can find you atleast not from bitcoin directly. you can only be traced if you have done any mistakes or you forget to clear your footprints

[sana54210]

yes it is illigal but if you are not caught then i do not think anyone can find you atleast not from bitcoin directly. you can only be traced if you have done any mistakes or you forget to clear your footprints

Indirectly, you are supporting and suggesting how not to be caught. It is not fair. We need to feel our responsibility to return any accidentally received bitcoins. It must be one of basic human behavior, we need to teach that to our next generations so that they will have a clear crime free future for better peace of mind.

[Hugroll]

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 i wouldnt really consider it stealing, because you created your own address and someone just happened to use it before you. its a fault in the bitcoin system, not considered stealing imo.

[crairezx20]

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 i wouldnt really consider it stealing, because you created your own address and someone just happened to use it before you. its a fault in the bitcoin system, not considered stealing imo.

Yeah its just a system fault and we can not consider it as stealing.. you are lucky if you had them.. but i think its impossible to happen i never heard it here before maybe they are receive some bitcoins from  unknown someone.

[DrGuns4Hands]

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 i wouldnt really consider it stealing, because you created your own address and someone just happened to use it before you. its a fault in the bitcoin system, not considered stealing imo.

my thoughts too , and its hard to locate and know where it came from or who is the real owner of btc.

[Za1n]

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 i wouldnt really consider it stealing, because you created your own address and someone just happened to use it before you. its a fault in the bitcoin system, not considered stealing imo.

my thoughts too , and its hard to locate and know where it came from or who is the real owner of btc.

No, it is still stealing. The question is not who is the owner of the address, but who is the owner of the BTC. As many, many people have already said, the BTC was put into that address  by someone and that person is the owner until they decide to transfer the funds to someone else either by sending them on or transferring ownership of the address containing them.

All of you crooks who think otherwise, the same thing could be said of a house, car etc. If I go to the locksmith and have him make some random keys, and I try them on some random cars and houses and one of them matches (which has a lot better odds than the bitcoin example btw), does that make me the owner of said car/house? No, of course not. You may own the key but not to the contents or object it unlocks.

[springgers]

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 i wouldnt really consider it stealing, because you created your own address and someone just happened to use it before you. its a fault in the bitcoin system, not considered stealing imo.

You are taking advantage from a bug, obviously it's not the right thing, it's not your money!
It's like someone drop a real wallet on the floor and you take it.

Will one day this problem will be fixed? We never know.

[airezx20]

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 i wouldnt really consider it stealing, because you created your own address and someone just happened to use it before you. its a fault in the bitcoin system, not considered stealing imo.

You are taking advantage from a bug, obviously it's not the right thing, it's not your money!
It's like someone drop a real wallet on the floor and you take it.

Will one day this problem will be fixed? We never know.

Yes i can never be a good thing if you are taking some thing which does not belong to you.Yes it is stealing and stealing can never be a legal activity.
And with bitcoin having really a good value in the market,then stealing bitcoins is 100% an illegal activity,no matter how you doing it.

[ronaldo40]

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 i wouldnt really consider it stealing, because you created your own address and someone just happened to use it before you. its a fault in the bitcoin system, not considered stealing imo.

You are taking advantage from a bug, obviously it's not the right thing, it's not your money!
It's like someone drop a real wallet on the floor and you take it.

Will one day this problem will be fixed? We never know.

Yes i can never be a good thing if you are taking some thing which does not belong to you.Yes it is stealing and stealing can never be a legal activity.
And with bitcoin having really a good value in the market,then stealing bitcoins is 100% an illegal activity,no matter how you doing it.

that is to say in the case of OP, I think there is no act of stealing, though he got it because of a bug, and it certainly was not intentional. I think it was lucky he got bitcoin for free. because in this case, we will hardly find its owner.

[springgers]

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 i wouldnt really consider it stealing, because you created your own address and someone just happened to use it before you. its a fault in the bitcoin system, not considered stealing imo.

You are taking advantage from a bug, obviously it's not the right thing, it's not your money!
It's like someone drop a real wallet on the floor and you take it.

Will one day this problem will be fixed? We never know.

Yes i can never be a good thing if you are taking some thing which does not belong to you.Yes it is stealing and stealing can never be a legal activity.
And with bitcoin having really a good value in the market,then stealing bitcoins is 100% an illegal activity,no matter how you doing it.

that is to say in the case of OP, I think there is no act of stealing, though he got it because of a bug, and it certainly was not intentional. I think it was lucky he got bitcoin for free. because in this case, we will hardly find its owner.

just left the bitcoin there, create another key and that's it, you don't need to find the owner to say anything... that's it.
or well, YOLO, spend all and gg.

[dingmei1]

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 i wouldnt really consider it stealing, because you created your own address and someone just happened to use it before you. its a fault in the bitcoin system, not considered stealing imo.

You are taking advantage from a bug, obviously it's not the right thing, it's not your money!
It's like someone drop a real wallet on the floor and you take it.

Will one day this problem will be fixed? We never know.

Yes i can never be a good thing if you are taking some thing which does not belong to you.Yes it is stealing and stealing can never be a legal activity.
And with bitcoin having really a good value in the market,then stealing bitcoins is 100% an illegal activity,no matter how you doing it.

that is to say in the case of OP, I think there is no act of stealing, though he got it because of a bug, and it certainly was not intentional. I think it was lucky he got bitcoin for free. because in this case, we will hardly find its owner.

How could the new address be repeated? Bitcoin code allows this?

[Seansky]

The only thing I can say about your question op is that stealing bitcoin is always illegal and never will be legal but if by some miracle you happen to generate a new address that belongs to somebody else and has a lot of bitcoin, it ain't your fault and it will be a legal reason. The one in fault if that happens is the system of bitcoin, thus will make it semi legal for you but if you happen to come across one, I only suggest that you leave it that way since maybe those bitcoins are hard earned ones.