Is stealing Bitcoin illegal?

[rektDude]

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.

It is neither legal nor illegal; there are no laws governing this. Furthermore, if there were laws regarding Bitcoin, it would vary from country to country even though Bitcoin is an neutral international currency.

Taking Bitcoin from an address that you generated that already had Bitcoin would be considered immoral and would be highly frowned upon by the Bitcoin community.

Off course stealing bitcoins are bad but you have to know that you cant get busted by doing it because lots of peopel dont know that bitcoins ar enot trace able so they cant get caught the one who steals your bitcoins.

[Zadicar]

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.

It is neither legal nor illegal; there are no laws governing this. Furthermore, if there were laws regarding Bitcoin, it would vary from country to country even though Bitcoin is an neutral international currency.

Taking Bitcoin from an address that you generated that already had Bitcoin would be considered immoral and would be highly frowned upon by the Bitcoin community.

Off course stealing bitcoins are bad but you have to know that you cant get busted by doing it because lots of peopel dont know that bitcoins ar enot trace able so they cant get caught the one who steals your bitcoins.

N one could able to track you down even you  steal bitcoins because of its  anonymity but  your conscience would  really haunt you  down  to  your bones. unless if you are really a  thief   and dont mind on those  conscience things. Stealing is stealing  and  its  absolutely considered  illegal in any way.

[J Gambler]

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 can't really get some bitcoin when you are going to generate a new address in any bitcoin wallet site because if you are going to generate then you had already bitcoin in it then you can called your self as lucky one. But if you are going to steal then that's a illegal thing.

[ajun96]

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.

true what you say that indirectly bitcoin makes it easy for thieves to increasingly invisible, when they managed to get in and steal bitcoin in your wallet, then there will be nothing you can do but let it go,
theft is illegal

[TTMNewsK]

Of course YES.
Any stealing acts is illegal.
It's doesn't matter what you are trying to steal.
It's still a bad thing.
So don't try it if you don't want to be punished.

[error08]

Of course YES.
Any stealing acts is illegal.
It's doesn't matter what you are trying to steal.
It's still a bad thing.
So don't try it if you don't want to be punished.

Of course it is, what matter is hardly to know who's the one that steal those bitcoin.
What we can do if it is stolen, just let it go. That's why always set second verification of your wallet, it help to be more secure.

[Zadicar]

Of course YES.
Any stealing acts is illegal.
It's doesn't matter what you are trying to steal.
It's still a bad thing.
So don't try it if you don't want to be punished.

Of course it is, what matter is hardly to know who's the one that steal those bitcoin.
What we can do if it is stolen, just let it go. That's why always set second verification of your wallet, it help to be more secure.

In the situation of  op where  he generated a new address which  has  already  a bitcoin on it  or  already owned by someone. In his case  he would surely get those bitcoin because  he  dont have  any idea whos  the owner of those  address then  he would  get those  bitcoin rather than waste it there.

[phreaky]

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 stealing Bitcoin is illegal because you are taking something that does not belong to you so it still is stealing even tho it is online.
You should have more wallets if you want to prevent Bitcoin being stolen from you.

[Positid]

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 stealing Bitcoin is illegal because you are taking something that does not belong to you so it still is stealing even tho it is online.
You should have more wallets if you want to prevent Bitcoin being stolen from you.

But if you have a chance would you steal or not?

That is the big question that needs to be answer as even if you steal bitcoin you will not be prosecuted as there is no law specifically designed for bitcoin, let alone bitcoin is not even recognized as legal currency.

[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.

Yeah stealing Bitcoin is illegal because you are taking something that does not belong to you so it still is stealing even tho it is online.
You should have more wallets if you want to prevent Bitcoin being stolen from you.

More paper wallets, not online ones. Paper wallets are the safest. I feel way safer since I have moved my balance to dozens of cold wallets.

[sishendaoye]

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 Bitcoin is illegal but the truth is that nobody can do something about it and that is maybe why some people think that you can just do it.
It is just as illegal as stealing something else only the police have no influence on it.

[bitdumper]

actully yes it is kind of illigal but here nobody will actully gonna punish you as it is not in power of any government but if someone really finds a scammer then yes they can take appropriate action like arresting them

[lol3c]

Of course YES.
Any stealing acts is illegal.
It's doesn't matter what you are trying to steal.
It's still a bad thing.
So don't try it if you don't want to be punished.

We all agree that any acts of stealing is illegal and there is no doubt about that but in this case it's hard to tell if the OP is a stealer or not because it looks like one in a billion coincidence in which the money suddenly came out from nowhere.

[Oilacris]

actully yes it is kind of illigal but here nobody will actully gonna punish you as it is not in power of any government but if someone really finds a scammer then yes they can take appropriate action like arresting them

As long as it is illegal then that is not going to be a bad act and stealing of something that you don't own is against the law. But with the situation of op that is not considered as stealing because op just received bitcoin accidentally to his bitcoin wallet and he has no intention to steal the bitcoin of other people, maybe he could just return that.

HE could able to return if  hed like to.. but  the question here is   how  he would gonna return those coins?  If he  dont know  who really owns it  and then for sure he would tend to get those bitcoins rather than leaving it  and  thinking that its better to  benefit and dont let it  come to waste.

[YuginKadoya]

actully yes it is kind of illigal but here nobody will actully gonna punish you as it is not in power of any government but if someone really finds a scammer then yes they can take appropriate action like arresting them

As long as it is illegal then that is not going to be a bad act and stealing of something that you don't own is against the law. But with the situation of op that is not considered as stealing because op just received bitcoin accidentally to his bitcoin wallet and he has no intention to steal the bitcoin of other people, maybe he could just return that.

HE could able to return if  hed like to.. but  the question here is   how  he would gonna return those coins?  If he  dont know  who really owns it  and then for sure he would tend to get those bitcoins rather than leaving it  and  thinking that its better to  benefit and dont let it  come to waste.

Yup! if a person really don't have an idea of who is the owner of that bitcoin then I think all he would do is get that bitcoin and would never tell anybody that he has got that kind of money, and I think that is the kind of attitude a person would show if he have a sight for that kind of money!

[thisappointed]

The word itself, "stealing" does it sound legal to you?, it's not right?. Stealing is illegal because you are getting something from someone without their permission. Stealing everything that is not yours is illegal. And that thing that you've said is not really possible to happen, let's say it can happen and let's rate it from 1 to 10, the chances that it is going to happen to anyone is 1 out of 10, it is like a blue moon because it is rarely happens. And what would you get from stealing it? Have more bitcoin in an instant without doing anything? Would your conscience can take it? I know your conscience will never let you sleep if you would do something like that.

[buyinbtc]

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.

Yes, stealing is illegal activity, so bitcoins stealing is illegal too, it is quite bad idea to steal them as it is pretty hard if you don't have skills, even if it is hard to prove that you stole

[Bitcoinbro]

its not illegal but its something that you simply not do to be honest because of the fact that if you are doing this you seriously have no life if you are asking me.
I think that stealing bitcoin is only for idiots..

[Osarman]

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 stealing Bitcoin is illegal because you are taking something that does not belong to you so it still is stealing even tho it is online.
You should have more wallets if you want to prevent Bitcoin being stolen from you.

yeah you are right that stealing bitcoin is illegal and sometime i think that bitcoin is also like as normal currency and anyone can steal bitcoin from other person and its very secure and anyone can not steal it from other because bitcoin have very strong security.

[Alanay]

Holy shit I had no idea this got so many pages...