Is stealing Bitcoin illegal?

[_Miracle]

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.

P.S.
you would not generate a new address for yourself that is already in existence, plus you would need the 2nd miracle of figuring out the key AND if you could do that 2nd thing...
There are plenty of wallet addresses to perform that one on: pick a loaded one, and go on with your bad self ;-)

[hua_hui]

Depend on how you steal the bitcoin, it may be legal and illegal. For example, if a person withdraw money from ATM and leave the bag at one corner, you go and take it up and later the two of you get into disputed over the ownership of the bag. The law may rule the later as the owner as there is no proof that either one own the money. This has happen before in my country.

[Xenophoto]

Depend on how you steal the bitcoin, it may be legal and illegal. For example, if a person withdraw money from ATM and leave the bag at one corner, you go and take it up and later the two of you get into disputed over the ownership of the bag. The law may rule the later as the owner as there is no proof that either one own the money. This has happen before in my country.

It's not that he 'legally' stole the item. It's just that CCTV doesn't exist in your country and the people are so foolish to the extent that since there's no 'proof' at hand, the latter is the owner. A simple identity card would've put the guy on jail for stealing the owner's bag but let's assume that the thief has removed all of those. Then maybe just a single eye witness would've helped. I don't understand how did that happen to your country, honestly.

[freedomgo]

Depend on how you steal the bitcoin, it may be legal and illegal. For example, if a person withdraw money from ATM and leave the bag at one corner, you go and take it up and later the two of you get into disputed over the ownership of the bag. The law may rule the later as the owner as there is no proof that either one own the money. This has happen before in my country.

Well, if you do not know that inside that bag you will be in trouble of not getting the right justice, what will happen is that when you will complain to the authorities, they will investigate both of you and no way you cannot justify yourself to prove your ownership, this is not a good example IMO as there is no challenge at all.

[bitbunnny]

Stealing is always stealing, so yes, it's illegal. If you have posed different question, like is it illegal to.keep the coins that ended up in your wallet accidentaly then maybe we could argue about it. And it's not just question of illegal or not but also question of morality.

[ObscureBean]

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.

What about if you come across a wad of 100 dollar bills by the side of the road and nobody's there to see you pick it up?  Technically that would be stealing wouldn't it? Are you gonna tell me that you would try to find the owner and return it? Would you really put yourself through the hassle, not to mention that you'd probably get a 100 people claiming they're the owner. No way you could be sure you've returned to its rightful owner. There you go, I've justified stealing for you 

[Positid]

Stealing is always stealing, so yes, it's illegal. If you have posed different question, like is it illegal to.keep the coins that ended up in your wallet accidentaly then maybe we could argue about it. And it's not just question of illegal or not but also question of morality.

Illegal in other things where law has existed but with bitcoin it cannot be legally considered as property and as an asset so you cannot call it illegal, the act alone is illegal but when it comes to bitcoin it is a different story and needs a proper rebuttal on the laws.

[Schuyler]

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.

What about if you come across a wad of 100 dollar bills by the side of the road and nobody's there to see you pick it up?  Technically that would be stealing wouldn't it? Are you gonna tell me that you would try to find the owner and return it? Would you really put yourself through the hassle, not to mention that you'd probably get a 100 people claiming they're the owner. No way you could be sure you've returned to its rightful owner. There you go, I've justified stealing for you 

Well, the "right" thing to do here is surrender the money to the authorities or to a tv or radio station and have them look for the rightful owner. But as you say, for some (or most) it would be too much of a hassle to do such things when the easier thing to do is just put it in your pocket.

[Erzatium]

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.

Yeah staling Bitcoin is illegal because you are stealing it and it does not belong to you so even tho it is online it still is stealing.
The thing is that people can get away with it and nothing is done by it and that is why some do not see it as stealing.

[Zadicar]

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.

Yeah staling Bitcoin is illegal because you are stealing it and it does not belong to you so even tho it is online it still is stealing.
The thing is that people can get away with it and nothing is done by it and that is why some do not see it as stealing.

Agree, anything  that not  belong to you and  you intend to get it then its considered as stealing already  no matter how  big  or small on the amount.  In the case of  OP he accidentaly generate a new address which theres already had a bitcoin on it and i think  this is exempted  for me.

[machinek20]

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.

Yeah staling Bitcoin is illegal because you are stealing it and it does not belong to you so even tho it is online it still is stealing.
The thing is that people can get away with it and nothing is done by it and that is why some do not see it as stealing.

any action of stealing no matter small or big is still called stealing and it is an act of criminal, even though you can escape from the people but it feel not right to take something that is not yours

[20kevin20]

No matter what, when, where and how you steal something it's still illegal whatever it is. You can steal a piece of empty paper from someone - it's still illegal. The big problem is the anonymity of Bitcoin which makes it pretty hard for authorities to backtrack the stealer.

[drwtsn32]

What is the punishment for those that steal bitcoin? Who can punish this kind of thieves? It seems to me that if nobody ever knows there is nothing illegal.

An example is the HashOcean that stolen money from thousands of people with that fraudulent scheme and nothing happened to them. It's hard to get the thiefs and scammers on the internet because they know how to hidden themselves and we don't have many guarantees here of safe when online, that is one of the very few negative points with Bitcoin and another virtual coins.

That is why the authorities have been finding these fugitives because it is really illegal to steal anything. Even if that is physical or virtual. Especially, we are talking about money here. That is a serious business.

[maydna]

What is the punishment for those that steal bitcoin? Who can punish this kind of thieves? It seems to me that if nobody ever knows there is nothing illegal.

An example is the HashOcean that stolen money from thousands of people with that fraudulent scheme and nothing happened to them. It's hard to get the thiefs and scammers on the internet because they know how to hidden themselves and we don't have many guarantees here of safe when online, that is one of the very few negative points with Bitcoin and another virtual coins.

That is why the authorities have been finding these fugitives because it is really illegal to steal anything. Even if that is physical or virtual. Especially, we are talking about money here. That is a serious business.

stealing bitcoin is illegal activities that we should avoid because the bitcoin its not belong to us. and for HO, i don't think that they want to give the stolen bitcoin they've got, they will use the bitcoin for another purpose to gain more bitcoin.

[Sithara007]

In the western nations, stealing Bitcoins might be considered as a crime by the courts. But I really doubt whether the courts in the third world nations would prosecute someone, who is accused of stealing BTCs.

[lucki777]

yes stealing of bitcoin is illegal and there is no doubt about this, it is just like if you are going to steal the fiat currency  a person the difference is bitcoin is  a crypto currency.

[Noctis Connor]

Everyone knows, steeling is an illegal act. In this case, you're not stealing others bitcoin by using some illegal activity like hacking. Its just a flaw in bitcoin, still maths overrides this flaw.

Yup this is true steeling money and bitcoin or anything from human is illegal activity if you want to have some money work for it there are lots of work that can suit with our personality first thing is construction worker or we our going to build a shop buy and sell or anything

On OP's scenario he accidentally obtain  or [generate a new address with  a bitcoin inside of it  which is  somehow  an intentional thing  for him  to be called as  a stealer but  anything that you get   from someones  possesion its  already  consider as stealing but  he have no choice to return it because  he doesnt even  know  whos  the owner of the said address.

Ow i see but if it is really impossible that you are going to generate a new address then it has bitcoin inside we are generating fresh and new bitcoin address even the and it can't be doubled unless unless the admin or ceo of you are using sent you amount of bitcoin.

[randy8777]

In the western nations, stealing Bitcoins might be considered as a crime by the courts. But I really doubt whether the courts in the third world nations would prosecute someone, who is accused of stealing BTCs.

punishment for stealing in third world countries should not be underestimated. whether you steal $10,000 in cash or bitcoin, you're stealing money, and that's a heavy crime in most countries, and especially in third world countries. if you are put in prison for whatever period of time in nasty conditions, then you'll surely regret it.

[croutonhexagon]

Yes stealing anything is a crime and the same applies in bitcoin also.
Bitcoin is a digital asset and stealing bitcoin is also a crime. But the situation you had mentioned is not illegal in my point of view because you your bitcoin from randomly generated address.

[Harlot]

In the western nations, stealing Bitcoins might be considered as a crime by the courts. But I really doubt whether the courts in the third world nations would prosecute someone, who is accused of stealing BTCs.

punishment for stealing in third world countries should not be underestimated. whether you steal $10,000 in cash or bitcoin, you're stealing money, and that's a heavy crime in most countries, and especially in third world countries. if you are put in prison for whatever period of time in nasty conditions, then you'll surely regret it.

I never knew the status of a country can make other thing legal compared to other Developed countries. Also the Law is copied and duplicated by some countries in their respective Penal Code similarities of the law can assure you that stealing something is illegal. The only problem is will Bitcoin be identified as a real asset of the one stolen. Because even FBI does not care about the Victims of HashOcean.