Is it safe to purchase bitcoin that obtain illegally?

[Money Boy]

If we purchase bitcoins from someone that who obtaining it by any means of illegal method, would I be held legal responsibility? How can we identify their source of bitcoins? Do we need to return the bitcoins to the rightful owner if being found out and suffer losses?

[RealDon]

It's illegal in most countries to knowingly purchase stolen goods.

[becherovka]

Think of bitcoins like cash. can you tell where your cash has been or what crimes in which it was involved?

Fungibility of bitcoin is supposed to be just the same as cash. No one can discriminate on your coins based on where it has previously been or for what it was previously used.

Now, if you knowingly accept cash/bitcoins from someone who gained them against the law of your jurisdiction, you might have a problem.

I fully recommend speaking with an attorney.

[AstralWonder]

If we purchase bitcoins from someone that who obtaining their by any means of illegal method, would I be held legal responsibility? How can we identify their source of bitcoins? Do we need to return the bitcoins to the rightful owner if being found out and suffer losses?

ur fine
hail no

[NeuroticTurtle]

bitcoins are fairly anonymous, but the chain can be walked back to the source unless they're washed or tumbled excessively, that being said, the transactions are one-way and can't be reversed or disputed.  Stolen coins are probably some kinda bad karma or evil ju-ju if you believe in any of that though.

[Caiapfas]

I personally think... for bitcoins to go main stream there will have to be some type of dispute / oversight. With my cash I can call the police, the bank, the card and sue you. with BTC I'm fucked....

Until this happens IMO bTC will never go mainstream and rival cash.

[tmullett]

Cash is more fungible that bitcoin now. Normal cash, at least, not considering marked bills. You really can't tell, when you catch the serial thief, which of the hundred dollar bills he's carrying was stolen from you and which one he got from his mom for his birthday.

But, even though you might look at the blockchain and tell what the immediate source was for a coin given you, recourse (on anybody's part) is an entirely different question.

[YourNerdyJoe]

If you know the bitcoins were obtained illegally then don't buy it.
but if you just get 'em off someone from localbitcoins and have the bliss of ignorance then you should be okay.

[lnternet]

There is different safety mechanism next to first place anonymity.

No one can force you to return your bitcoins. You don't need to store bitcoins in your matress to hide them. You just store them in the cloud with a password, or just as a private key on a piece of paper, whichever you prefer.

Now theoretically your coins could get flagged and even though they can't be taken away from you, you wouldn't be able to use them. But this would mean the majority of the network agrees on some centralized flagging mechanism. But that very idea goes directly against the ideology of most nodes in the network and is thus very unlikely to happen.

[beetcoin]

Think of bitcoins like cash. can you tell where your cash has been or what crimes in which it was involved?

Fungibility of bitcoin is supposed to be just the same as cash. No one can discriminate on your coins based on where it has previously been or for what it was previously used.

Now, if you knowingly accept cash/bitcoins from someone who gained them against the law of your jurisdiction, you might have a problem.

I fully recommend speaking with an attorney.

cash is much more anonymous than bitcoin. with BTC, you can trace where it has been or hasn't. so if your coins get stolen, you could monitor where it goes technically.

[Caiapfas]

i think its save. until the day bitcoin is legitimatized if ever. then there will be oversight or it will never be.

[BrockLanders]

bad karma, as noted above   

[prolom]

Don't you think that FSA would be watching at least some transactions? If they can read your gmail they can probably flag some suspicious bitcoin transactions, unless it's, umm..., I don't know how to secure transactions.

I don't think that you personally can identify the source.

prolom.

[shorena]

You're fine.
I'm pretty sure you can't trace a bitcoin address to a person or IP. It's all so anonymous.
Like if I went on my bros computer and sent all his bitcoins to me, there's no way to track it and no way for him to track me. Also he can't refund it.
You're fine.

Sure noone can know, right?

Lets take a random block
https://blockchain.info/block-index/455572/0000000000000001250cf6d845ee1030796ca5b56a6ca10bca45890617a22ca9

and a "random" transaction

https://blockchain.info/tx/b835ae361016bfe9cc35487c68455fde9e0872d30f14efa1f4a7456ef0f904b7

and click on "view tree chart"

https://blockchain.info/tree/105565477

no ip adresses there, no, you cant trace anyone with this blockchain thingy, everything is anonymous, nothing to see here, please continue with your life.

[prolom]

Well, was it directly from a wallet to wallet or from some exchange?

Personally I think it's anonymous as long as you don't attract attention.

prolom.

[tunctioncloud]

If we purchase bitcoins from someone that who obtaining their by any means of illegal method, would I be held legal responsibility? How can we identify their source of bitcoins? Do we need to return the bitcoins to the rightful owner if being found out and suffer losses?

I hope no. You cant know if the bitcoins you received were stolen.

[Money Boy]

I just read one article from CoinDesk,"What should we do with stolen bitcoins?"
http://www.coindesk.com/what-should-we-do-with-stolen-bitcoins/

According to the article stolen coin can be known and the movement of coin as well.

[hilariousandco]

If we purchase bitcoins from someone that who obtaining it by any means of illegal method, would I be held legal responsibility? How can we identify their source of bitcoins? Do we need to return the bitcoins to the rightful owner if being found out and suffer losses?

I'm sure you could be charged with handling stolen goods / funds etc. I'm sure they'll be lots of these cases in the near future.

[Money Boy]

ya that's why I am asking here.

[edutBTC]

Let me see by myself if you ain't sure about the BTC