I found a paper wallet on a beach ... seriously

[DireWolfM14]

IF they still have the private key, they should just move the funds the moment they realize a copy is missing.

That should happen likely but would leave @easternklaas as apparently honest finder with empty pockets unless the legit owner shows some gratitude to the honest finder.

I find this line of thinking a bit odd.  If one goes about his life ethically, there shouldn't be any expectation of reward for doing the right thing.  Honesty and integrity are rewarding enough for those that value such attributes.  As honest as easternklaas has been, he's not entitled to anything, and it's comforting that he seems to realize that.

I like suchmoon's analogy: If you find a key to someone's house on the street, or along the same lines; a username and password for a bank account; that doesn't entitle you to any of their furniture or a portion of the funds in the account.  This is no different.

[1714678534]

1714678534

[1714678534]

1714678534

[1714678534]

1714678534

[1714678534]

1714678534

[Cricktor]

OK, ok, I might be spoiled from the last time I found something of value in the streets of my neighborhood. I made some effort to pass my contact information at the right place of the owner (I couldn't identify the owner without breaking rules). They called me, I verified it's the legit owner and negotiated how to give back what I found, mainly how we can identify each other. I didn't expect anything in that case, all went as I would've wished it myself if I were the one who had lost something.

The owner offered me a totally unexpected nice small present which I politely rejected, but they insisted and I didn't want to be rude to reject their gratitude. I guess, I'm spoiled now?

I get what you want to say and I'm with you.

[LoyceV]

And that's the tricky part: even a signed message from the address that funded the wallet doesn't necessarily mean it's the owner (it could be the guy who sold the Bitcoins to the current owner).

If you buy or get a paper wallet from someone you can't 100% trust for the lifetime of the paper wallet, you should move the coins off the paper wallet and create your own one as destination if you want to keep a paper wallet.

I meant the previous owner of the Bitcoins, who can sign a message from the sending address (before the coins reached the current paper wallet). I didn't mean the previous owner of the paper wallet to sign a message from the address on the paper wallet (that would make no sense).

An OP_RETURN "Found lost or stolen paper wallet, see thread on bitcointalk.org" as transaction output at the proper place speaks for itself, but frankly isn't for newbies.

Although technically better, it makes it less likely for the owner to read it. Hence the "vanity burn address" suggestion.

@easternklaas, When I read your location, it occurred to me that a few months ago I read about floods in that part of Australia, so I wonder if it is possible that some of the floods actually caused that paper wallet to appear on the beach?

This makes sense. And a good reason to use metal instead of paper for key storage.

[suchmoon]

This; but the problem is proving ownership. Anybody could claim they own the address and you'd have no way of knowing who is telling the truth. The only possible way is maybe if the real owner had the address that funded the paper wallet, which they could sign a message from that address. Other than that, I can't see any other solid proof.

I doesn't have to be cryptographically solid. Imagine if you find a physical wallet with cash in it and how would you hand it back to the owner. There is a way to provide enough convincing circumstantial evidence (brown wallet with a hole in the left pocket, six expired lottery tickets and a photo of my third husband). It's a bit more tricky with a paper wallet, especially if the address has been made public, but still could be possible (the way the paper wallet looks like, where exactly it was found, etc).

With a tactic like that you may not have to post the public address, but if you've made the clue address known someone could figure it out.

It doesn't really matter at that point - anybody can see the TX and all sorts of shitheads will try to scam all the same.

Considering the amount, I would put in significant effort into finding the owner without touching the blockchain or making the address public. Up to and including going to the police. Putting up posters where the wallet was found (without specific details, "a valuable laminated item was found"), local facebook groups, maybe newspapers if such a thing still exists, that sort of thing.

[bakasabo]

So easternklaas what you have decided to do with the wallet and funds? Have your decided already how to identify wallet owner, in case several people apply as owners?

We have sort of a IRL scam with lost wallets in our country. Example, you walk in shopping mall and see a guy drops his wallet and walks away. You pick it up, run to this guy, willing to return wallet to him. He says thanks to you and walks away, but in few minutes runs back and say there were more money in wallet than there is now, and call you a thief. Usually after his friends come by and try to "force" you to pay "missing" amount.

[n0nce]

But since there's no way to know who they belong to, keep them for yourself and / or sell them.

This sounds horribly unethical. The coins don't belong to the OP. The original owner might have a backup and might try to move the funds once they notice that their paper wallet is missing.

Technically, whoever owns the private keys, owns the coins.
I agree that it may be unethical to 'take' them if we assume whoever lost that seed has another copy and might notice.

I don't know the circumstances, e.g. if it looks like it is very old (so owner should have noticed by now) from the exterior, when the funded addresses were funded and details like that.
Maybe it would be sensible holding onto the seed and only 'taking' (spending / selling) the coins when some more time has passed.
Anything I describe though (spend / sell), will be better than either destroying the seed or giving it to the police.

Also, @easternklaas: keep in mind in this thread 'private key' has been used somewhat interchangeably with 'seed phrase' and 'paper wallet'. When they tell you not to give anyone your private key, it also means don't tell anyone the seed phrase you found in that paper wallet.

It's just a theory, of course, but somehow it seems more realistic to me than someone walking on the beach with a paper wallet containing 0.6 BTC, losing it and not trying to find it.

I do think it being washed up is the most likely scenario; nobody should randomly take their seed phrase to the beach.

[easternklaas]

@easternklaas, When I read your location, it occurred to me that a few months ago I read about floods in that part of Australia, so I wonder if it is possible that some of the floods actually caused that paper wallet to appear on the beach? I think that the flood hit some houses and thus took some things with it into the river that flows into the sea, which then threw that wallet onto the beach.

It's just a theory, of course, but somehow it seems more realistic to me than someone walking on the beach with a paper wallet containing 0.6 BTC, losing it and not trying to find it.

Entirely possible Lucius. The paper wallet was wet and had obviously been in the water.  The beach also receives lots of rubbish washed upon its shores and some interesting items have been found over the years. An ATM was recently recovered on the shoreline... In my opinion, the most likely scenario.. knowing the motivation of local riff raff, is that it came from some poor souls wallet or home and was deemed neither cash nor drugs. The crims around here are not terribly bright and wouldn't know what it was.

So easternklaas what you have decided to do with the wallet and funds? Have your decided already how to identify wallet owner, in case several people apply as owners?

I haven't decided as yet bakasabo. I will take advice from this thread and have a good crack at finding the owner. If this fails,.. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. It does pose an interesting moral dilemma doesn't it. If I found a rubbish bag with $20k cash in it,.. dare I say it, I am not entirely sure I'd be so active to find the owner.

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

If you're not familiar with Bitcoin what makes you think it's a Bitcoin paper wallet?

Fair question Cricktor.. When I first saw it, I thought it was a folded up checque. Removing it carefully from its plastic pockets, it was stuck together, so I carefully prised it apart and sat it on my windscreen demister on the car trip home. It dried out pretty quickly. It was folded in an unusual manner and stapled to conceal a  QR code and another code. There is faint remnants of a bitcoin logo on it and the words 'paper wallet' and the name of the website from which it came printed down the right hand side. A quick google and I was holding what the search engine image results identified as a 'paper wallet'. From there, I did a crash course in paper wallets, and figured out how to identify the balance of the wallet,.. kept researching and found this bitcointalk.org site.

[LoyceV]

There is faint remnants of a bitcoin logo on it and the words 'paper wallet' and the name of the website from which it came printed down the right hand side.

Chances are this website should NOT be trusted (anymore). Many once trusted paper wallet generators turned into a scam later on, by creating pre-determined instead of random private keys.

[witcher_sense]

Question to the OP: what makes you think that the private key printed on a piece of paper actually corresponds to the address printed next to it? The well-known motto in the bitcoin community states that you shouldn't blindly trust everything you see but verify it for yourself. Have you tried to verify that the private key is real and that you haven't been pranked or tricked into believing that you magically became richer overnight? One of the ways to check the genuineness of a private key is to try to spend coins from the address (transfer them to the wallet you control). Alternatively, if you don't want to get in trouble because of someone accusing you of stealing someone else's property, you can simply sign a message with a paper wallet's address and private key. This way, you will verify that the paper wallet is real and that you're not wasting your time trying to find the owner.

Technically, whoever owns the private keys, owns the coins.

What do you mean by "owning"? How do you claim ownership over random numbers? Don't they belong to the nature of things or the universe we live in? Technically, that you generated some random number doesn't automatically make you a rightful owner of this number but rather its discoverer.

[LoyceV]

Have you tried to verify that the private key is real and that you haven't been pranked or tricked into believing that you magically became richer overnight?

That's evil, lol Even better it's BIP38 encrypted, someone will be searching for a very long time.

One of the ways to check the genuineness of a private key is to try to spend coins from the address (transfer them to the wallet you control). Alternatively, if you don't want to get in trouble because of someone accusing you of stealing someone else's property, you can simply sign a message with a paper wallet's address and private key. This way, you will verify that the paper wallet is real and that you're not wasting your time trying to find the owner.

No need to sign a message, all you need to do is check if the private key generates the same address. To be safe from malware, you should do this offline, for instance using an offline Tails DVD to run Electrum.

[easternklaas]

Question to the OP: what makes you think that the private key printed on a piece of paper actually corresponds to the address printed next to it? The well-known motto in the bitcoin community states that you shouldn't blindly trust everything you see but verify it for yourself. Have you tried to verify that the private key is real and that you haven't been pranked or tricked into believing that you magically became richer overnight? One of the ways to check the genuineness of a private key is to try to spend coins from the address (transfer them to the wallet you control). Alternatively, if you don't want to get in trouble because of someone accusing you of stealing someone else's property, you can simply sign a message with a paper wallet's address and private key. This way, you will verify that the paper wallet is real and that you're not wasting your time trying to find the owner.

Good question... tbh I knew nothing about what I found on the beach and now know only a fraction more. I am a firm believer of the adage that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.. so in not going to be super bummed if I'm just the victim of a prank or attempted scam.  I'm learning loads here and am grateful for all your input. If it turns out to be a real paper wallet,.. with real coin... great... I'll try doing what i can to find the owner.. if I've simply found someone's attempt at humour... sounds a little odd ..but ok... ya got me!! Maybe I'm wasting all your time by chasing a rediculous red herring... I don't know.. apologies if so. Maybe I shld try sweeping (.. a new word I've learnt) the coin into another account to see if it's legit.... but is that like trying the key I found in a front door even though I know full well it's not my house?

 

[easternklaas]

Question to the OP: what makes you think that the private key printed on a piece of paper actually corresponds to the address printed next to it?.

Sorry witcher_sense ... I did answer the question.. but my response was removed by mods? In short,.. I don't know.. which is why I'm here.. for advice

[LoyceV]

Maybe I shld try sweeping (.. a new word I've learnt) the coin into another account to see if it's legit.... but is that like trying the key I found in a front door even though I know full well it's not my house?

Sweeping is like replacing the lock for your own lock. It also puts the burden of securing the funds on you: your computer should be free of malware, and you shouldn't lose access to the new address. And like I said: you should probably not trust the website that was used to create this paper wallet anymore, so you can't just make a similar paper wallet (there's more to it than going to a website and clicking print).

Sorry witcher_sense ... I did answer the question.. but my response was removed by mods?

See:

32. Posting multiple posts in a row (excluding bumps and reserved posts by the thread starter) is not allowed.

You should edit your post (just like I did now) instead of making a new post if you were the last one posting in a topic.

[NotATether]

Law in Australia suggests I can be charged with 'theft by finding' if I don't make a reasonable attempt to identify the owner.  This seems to be impossible in this instance... seems a shame to hand it in to police.. who are likely not educated enough to know what to do with it.  What would you do?

Australia is making a lot of crazy laws about crypto in recent years to ban exchanges from providing "privacy coins" e.g. ZCash, monero, so I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of them.

I wouldn't hand it over to the cops, some insider might just swipe the balance from the real owner.

Perhaps you can send a small amount (e.g. $5) to the address corresponding to that private key, and then transfer it out back to the source address to alert the real owner that their paper wallet has been found!

Or make an OP_RETURN transaction with a thousand satoshis or so, that says: "This paper wallet has been found on a beach. If you own this private key, get your coins out immediately!" It can be viewed on such block explorers as Blockstream, that decode the OP_RETURN data.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Maybe I shld try sweeping (.. a new word I've learnt) the coin into another account to see if it's legit....

I wouldn't. In doing so you remove the ability of the real owner of the funds to move the funds themselves once they realize what has happened, assuming of course they have another back up of their wallet somewhere they can access. Given that this is probably going to be the most likely scenario in which the real owner is reunited with their money, then by sweeping the coins you make it significantly less likely they will ever get them back.

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

For starters, I would stop saying any more about what the wallet looks like, where you found it, how it was protected, etc. If the real owner finds this thread, then you need some way of confirming it is them, and that will probably be done by them describing in detail what the wallet looked like and the circumstances in which it was found. If you give away all the details, then it becomes too easy for someone to fake that information.

Secondly, I would verify the private key does indeed lead to the address on the wallet. I would do this on an airgapped computer as mentioned above by Loyce. I would never enter the private key on an internet connected computer due to the risk of theft.

Thirdly, I would make up a back up of the wallet. If it is already damaged as you say, then I wouldn't want to risk being responsible for damaging it further beyond recovery, especially if it is the only way for someone to access their life savings.

Fourthly, I would poke around in the history of the transaction which funded the wallet to see if I could find anything useful which might link the wallet to a person or centralized exchange.

Lastly, I would post the public address here to increase the chance of the owner finding it.

[m2017]

Law in Australia suggests I can be charged with 'theft by finding' if I don't make a reasonable attempt to identify the owner.  This seems to be impossible in this instance...

You can start by posting the address here, so Google indexes it and the owner might respond here.

Do you remember each of your bitcoin addresses down to the last digit? We are talking about those addresses that you rarely use or don't use at all, according to example a paper wallet. It seems to me that it would be more efficient to take a photo of the card from paper wallet, of course, painting over all the text. So at least there will be a chance that the owner will recognize his paper, card or or some other sign if he sees this topic. But I can’t immediately figure out how the owner will confirm his right to this 0.6 BTC if he has neither backups nor access to any information that allows him to confirm.

I think it would be more ethical to wait a while and not touch these bitcoin, giving the owner a chance to return them.

[LoyceV]

Do you remember each of your bitcoin addresses down to the last digit?

No, but I know enough to find back at least some of my addresses.

It seems to me that it would be more efficient to take a photo of the card from paper wallet

There are only a few types of paper wallet that have been used a lot. I can already take a guess: about 10 cm long, 5 cm high, yellow flowing into orange, green on the edge and green/yellow/orange at the back. This is the default paper wallet created by a website that will scam you now.

So at least there will be a chance that the owner will recognize his paper, card or or some other sign if he sees this topic.

They all look the same

But I can’t immediately figure out how the owner will confirm his right to this 0.6 BTC if he has neither backups nor access to any information that allows him to confirm.

Be creative: "Before laminating it, I wrote the current date in blue ink on the paper. I can verify the handwriting is mine."
By posting an image, you make it easier for scammers to describe the paper wallet.

[Cricktor]

There is faint remnants of a bitcoin logo on it and the words 'paper wallet' and the name of the website from which it came printed down the right hand side.

Chances are this website should NOT be trusted (anymore). Many once trusted paper wallet generators turned into a scam later on, by creating pre-determined instead of random private keys.

If it is bitcoinpaperwallet(dot)com it depends when the paper wallet was created. This site used and still uses a clever folding scheme for their paper wallet print templates.

After the original creator Canton Becker of this website sold it approx. by the end of 2018, the new owner(s) now scam you. Any paper wallet created on this current scam website uses predeterministic private keys known to the website owner even when the site pretends that you generate some sort of entropy (you don't!). Any more or less decent amount of coins will vanish from recently created paper wallets from this scam website! DO NOT USE IT, if that's not yet clear enough!

@easternklaas: you should check if the public address of the paper wallet which should also be printed on the paper wallet does still hold any coins. If it doesn't there's not much left to discuss here, except for the interesting ethical topic. As block explorers I recommend mempool.space or bitcoinexplorer.org, but others like btc.bitaps.com or blockchair.com are OK, too.

Not entirely sure if you did that already...

... From there, I did a crash course in paper wallets, and figured out how to identify the balance of the wallet,..

BTW, nice to see that you do your own research.

Secondly, I would verify the private key does indeed lead to the address on the wallet. I would do this on an airgapped computer as mentioned above by Loyce. I would never enter the private key on an internet connected computer due to the risk of theft.

Airgapped is not enough, it should stay airgapped forever until erased. Use TAILS in offline-mode as it forgets any data, unless you use persistant storage. An offline copy of bitaddress.org script in TAILS should be OK to check everything needed (use Walletdetails on that page, works offline).

Thirdly, I would make up a back up of the wallet. If it is already damaged as you say, then I wouldn't want to risk being responsible for damaging it further beyond recovery, especially if it is the only way for someone to access their life savings.
...
Lastly, I would post the public address here to increase the chance of the owner finding it.

A safe usually digital copy is not an easy task. Smartphones are not appropriate for this. If the paper wallet is still readable why bother. If you can't 100% trust any device used for the copy process, you put the paper wallet to risk of theft by others.

Yep, I would post the public address, too.

So at least there will be a chance that the owner will recognize his paper, card or or some other sign if he sees this topic.

They all look the same

But I can’t immediately figure out how the owner will confirm his right to this 0.6 BTC if he has neither backups nor access to any information that allows him to confirm.

Be creative: "Before laminating it, I wrote the current date in blue ink on the paper. I can verify the handwriting is mine."
By posting an image, you make it easier for scammers to describe the paper wallet.

Indeed, it's not uncommon there's some handwriting on the paper wallet, hopefully it wasn't with water soluble ink and some or all of it is still preserved and visible.

@easternklaas should not post any physical details of this paper wallet anymore for that reason as already said by others.

[n0nce]

Good question... tbh I knew nothing about what I found on the beach and now know only a fraction more. I am a firm believer of the adage that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.. so in not going to be super bummed if I'm just the victim of a prank or attempted scam.  I'm learning loads here and am grateful for all your input. If it turns out to be a real paper wallet,.. with real coin... great... I'll try doing what i can to find the owner.. if I've simply found someone's attempt at humour... sounds a little odd ..but ok... ya got me!! Maybe I'm wasting all your time by chasing a rediculous red herring... I don't know.. apologies if so. Maybe I shld try sweeping (.. a new word I've learnt) the coin into another account to see if it's legit.... but is that like trying the key I found in a front door even though I know full well it's not my house?

In order to check the 'balance' of this paper wallet; no matter whether it's a 24- or 12-word seed phrase or a single private key with a public key next to it, you can check it in a secure way using Tails OS.
If I was you, I'd boot a computer using a Tails live USB stick, import the seed or private key (whatever it is) into the preinstalled Electrum wallet and get its actual addresses.

In case of a seed phrase, it can deterministically generate private keys and derive public keys or addresses from those. In that case, generate like 100 of them and write them down.
If it's just a single-key paper wallet with just one private key, it's easier since there will be just one address (actually 3; one of each address type).

Then shut it down, boot into your regular, internet-enabled OS, install Tor Browser, visit a blockchain explorer of your choice and enter those addresses you noted down.

[BlackHatCoiner]

Lastly, I would post the public address here to increase the chance of the owner finding it.

To further increase the chances of owner noticing the thread, I'd spend the output to the same address with a proper OP_RETURN note saying:

Code:

Hey, read: bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5408263

It'd come as an instant notification to their wallet whenever they decided to open it. If they have a backup, they will immediately send the funds back to one of their wallets. If they don't, they'll try to convince they're those who owned it.

However, if there isn't sufficient evidence, such as a writing style or possible lack of color, which are things you haven't revealed to us (and should not!), the real owner won't be able to convince you. If I were you, after all, I'd keep it in the same way I'd keep cash found on the street.