What are the rules for finding wallets

[acrom]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

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[bobbybkk]

I would say it is similar to finding a bank note. You could report it to the police, but how should the person who lost the bank note should prove it is his bank note ?

So in total I would follow the general law of the universe: It is all gods will - so pocket the money and be happy

[acrom]

Ok so finders keepers but what about the law if you wanted to sell some of that for physical money like the US dollar how would the law see it.

[bobbybkk]

Ok so finders keepers but what about the law if you wanted to sell some of that for physical money like the US dollar how would the law see it.

If the Bitcoins in the wallet relate to a major crime, the law would be very happy to have a prime suspect for the crime and lock you up until at some distant point in the future the investigation shows that you are only trying to handle stolen goods or so......

At the end of the day it is up to the judge to decide if you go to prison or can walk away....

[mk4]

Theoretically speaking you shouldn't even worry about that because the chances of you generating a private key that someone already uses is virtually impossible.

Morally/ethically speaking though, of course, you shouldn't steal the wallet because the funds are simply not yours. In the same way, you're morally responsible for attempting to return a wallet accidentally dropped at the street. In the context of a bitcoin/crypto wallet though, the right move(morally/ethically speaking) is to not do anything.

[Text]

In general, the legality of your Bitcoin activities will depend on where you are and what you are doing with it.

In the U.S., Bitcoin is not illegal, but how you can buy it, what services and exchanges you can use, and what you can use it for might depend on which state you are in.

In the U.K., as of November 2023, Bitcoin was legal.

In Canada, Bitcoin is also legal but its usage is regulated by the government.

In South America, the legality varies from country to country. For example, in Brazil, Bitcoin is legal and regulated by the government, while in Bolivia, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are banned.

Here in the Philippines, Bitcoin exchange services are now registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Just because you have access to a Bitcoin wallet doesn’t necessarily mean you have the legal right to the funds within it. If you were to find a wallet and use the funds within it, this could potentially be seen as theft.

[Solosanz]

Bitcoin is a commodity in US, people are obliged to report all of their wealth, so in case someone lose access to their wallet, they can file a commodity loss report. If there's someone find the wallet, they need to give it back otherwise they're suspected as thefts.

If they didn't file a report and someone else is access the wallet, I don't think they stole the coins because the real owner wasn't declare the ownership of that wallet.

[adaseb]

You would not just random generate a private key for a Bitcoin address which has a balance on it. You actually wouldn’t even generate one which at one point was used in transactions. Doing this is highly unlikely and pretty much impossible.

Only way would be if you stole someone’s key with some virus and moved those funds to yourself. This is considered theft and not allowed.

Nobody really questioned what would happen if you generated a private key used in the past because it hasn’t happened yet.

[ranochigo]

If you find a wallet on the floor, is it legal for you to keep the money inside and leave the wallet on the floor? The answer is probably no in your jurisdiction. Same applies for Bitcoin as well, not legal advise but I'm fairly sure that it would be illegal in your jurisdiction. Regardless, it would be impossible for you to just come across a funded wallet. You would get yourself in trouble with something else in that case.

[hd49728]

It shows that you don't understand anything about Private key and Bitcoin.

It's your private key, it's your bitcoin.
It's not your private key, it's not your bitcoin.

By whatever chance, if you have a Bitcoin private key, you have access to that wallet address (public address) and if it stores bitcoins (not an empty wallet), you can spend (move) that bitcoin.

Being fearful about tainted coins?

You can use Samourai wallet, mixers and no KYC exchanges.

[franky1]

Ok so finders keepers but what about the law if you wanted to sell some of that for physical money like the US dollar how would the law see it.

even finders keepers is not as true as you hope

its not finders spenders.. its finders keepers.
you have to keep it and make an effort to reunite it with its owner whilst keeping it(not spending it).
if there is provable effort to reunite it and all avenues are exhausted and no one has made a valid claim after reasonable time. then it is deemed as unclaimed, to which you as the keeper can claim it, after all there is no one else that can claim it off you

[Despairo]

It shows that you don't understand anything about Private key and Bitcoin.

It's your private key, it's your bitcoin.
It's not your private key, it's not your bitcoin.

By whatever chance, if you have a Bitcoin private key, you have access to that wallet address (public address) and if it stores bitcoins (not an empty wallet), you can spend (move) that bitcoin.

Being fearful about tainted coins?

You can use Samourai wallet, mixers and no KYC exchanges.

I don't think he doesn't understand about that, actually what was been discussed in this thread and what you replied are on different context.

What if I found your private key regardless by accident or on purpose? does it still your coins or now it's my coins? or... our coins? so there's no harm to move the coins as long as I have access to the coins.

Using privacy tools in this case is pretty much like you're supporting criminal IMHO.

[SamReomo]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

No one miraculously get someone else's Bitcoin key unless he steals it or hacks it from that individual. It's totally illegal to transfer any amount from that wallet because it's not your wallet and you aren't the owner of it.

In most cases when an owner has a Bitcoin wallet they keep the wallet address with them all the time and when someone makes a transaction out of it then the wallet owner can file a theft case against that thief.
If you really want to be safe from legal actions then don't do anything with that wallet.

Can you tell me that how in this physical and practical world someone could get a private key of a Bitcoin wallet miraculously? As far as I know, no miracles take place in technical world unless someone does a shady thing and considers it a miracle. 

[m2017]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

At the moment, in almost all countries (including those you listed), bitcoin is not officially recognized and the issue of legality of access to someone else’s btc wallet remains outside the legal field. In fact, there are no rules (legislative field). Even if we assume the possibility that you will be very lucky to accidentally gain access to someone else’s BTC-wallet, then this should not constitute a crime, since there were no intentional actions in your actions (abuse for the purpose of illegal enrichment). Now, if you transfer bitcoin from someone else’s wallet to your own, then this will already be theft. Not within the field of current laws, but within the field of human morality. So far, everything is quite vague in the legislative field of everything related to cryptocurrencies and bitcoin.

So it turns out that when accessing someone else’s btc wallet, if you follow generally accepted human morality, then you should not touch other people’s bitcoin. And if you look at this from the perspective of the “morality” of the villains, then quickly take these bitcoin for yourself. The question is, what morals do you adhere to?

[leonair]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

You own a bitcoin wallet key means you own that wallet. and you can enjoy it. Because when you're logging that wallet how can anyone track you that you're enjoying that bitcoin? and if you don't want to take them, how can you find the real owner of that wallet? none of this is possible in this decentralized world. here if you lose your wallet key yourself then you cannot recover your wallet money. In case of Bitcoin you own the private key means you own the wallet

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

[/b]link=topic=5485525.msg63680292#msg63680292 date=1708218493]
Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet?

Technically, the answer is "Yes" since It's because you have access to the private key of the Bitcoin wallet. But morally it's "No" since you aren't the true owner of that coin. But however, if you could have access to the private key of a wallet, I think the area where you could have deficulty is identifying which wallet do the private key belongs to (i.e Blue wallet, Trust wallet, Electrum e.t.c), because having access to a private key to a wallet, do not automatically grant you access to the coins in that wallet, you still need to figure out which Bitcoin wallet does this belongs to, and there are several of them today online today.

Example: Because if only Craig White (i.e The Fake Satoshi) had have access to the private key of real Satoshi 's wallet with over 1million Bitcoin, I'm sure by today the world would have believed he is the real Satoshi, but since he couldn't, he remains fake.

[DannyHamilton]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet

It means you have control over those funds.  Weather you "own" it or not is a philosophical question (do any of us actually ever own anything?) for which the answer will depend entirely on who you ask, and their opinions on the concept of ownership.

is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america.

Are you able to prove in a court of law that you "miraculously got" that private key, and that you didn't hack the person or company that initially had access to those funds to steal their private key?  The fact that you have access to the private key is going to be pretty strong evidence that you DID steal the private key.

I'm not aware of any court cases yet that have decided wether stealing private keys to steal bitcoins is a crime, but I strongly suspect that's what the courts in many jurisdictions would decide.

Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

There definitely is a moral aspect to the question. There are a lot of things that are illegal, but probably ethical and moral. There are also things that are legal, but unethical or immoral. Regardless of wether courts in various jurisdictions decide that "finding" bitcoins is illegal, the moral and ethical implications will remain.

[Darker45]

The basic rule, unwritten or written, is that if it isn't yours you shouldn't touch it. If it isn't yours, then it means it is owned by somebody else. So why should it suddenly belong to you? Why should ownership suddenly move from another person to yourself simply because you got access to it?

I think this is an absurd question, a silly one.

In the first place, the Bitcoin in that wallet, a wallet that you do not own, if I may emphasize, will not move without an act of stealing. That wallet isn't lost. That wallet is under the control of somebody. And there's no reason why the ownership of that wallet is transferred just because you have access to it.

I don't suddenly own whatever is inside a house whose keys I found lying on the sidewalk. I don't suddenly own the money inside a vault just because I learned of its number combination.

[Kelward]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

I really don't see the possibilities of how you can miraculously get another person's wallet and private keys without that person gifting it to you, unless the original owner misplaced the list where they wrote it or you stole it. The former is acceptable, so far it's a gift, but the two latter that I mentioned is criminality, that's how I see it, unless you can enlighten us with the details of how you miraculously got it. But frankly I don't know the extent of criminality it'll be if my second option being when the owner misplaced it, and another person finds it, without knowing who own it? Unless the Bitcoin is in a centralized exchange, where KYC can determine the original owner, if there's no other means of determining who the owner is, the I guess the finder can keep it, but I don't know about selling it.

[Fiatless]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

Where did you find the private key? If you find it in a place where you can easily trace the owner, it will be wrong to claim the coin. The ideal thing to do is to look for the owner and transfer the keys. It becomes more complicated if you don't know who owns the bitcoin and it is impossible to trace the owner. Let's say there was a natural disaster like a flood and you see a metal that has these keys in your garden. And there is no announcement of any missing keys from anybody. At this point, your reaction will be based on morality. You might decide to keep it or donate it to charity. You will have to explain to the government how you got such an amount. They might suspect that you got it through illegal means.

[Crypt0Gore]

99% of any finder who found a lost bitcoin wallet won't care about the owner, they will rather spend it instead of finding the owner and return it, and since the real owner lost the private key, the founder isn't to be blame because they found it, this is different from stealing the keys or using force acts to take over the wallet.

I believe that the chances of coming across a btc wallet key is very slim, and if it does happens it's better to report to the next police station or find other ways to get the wallet back to the rightful owner.

I would advice anyone to keep their private keys safer and avoid losing it to another person, because it's very slim for any one to give your BTC wallet back just like that, no one stole it from you, they are free to do whatever they like with the wallet, so make sure you don't lose it.  

[famososMuertos]

...//:,, a morality should you or should you not.

Is this perhaps a topic of bitcoin discussion, only due to the very poor possibility of the coincidence lottery happening. Yeah.

But if something like this were to happen (which is not going to happen) it must be added that that wallet has bitcoin, which adds to the probabilities that it is not possible.

Which leaves us with the decision on an individual issue and of Moral principles, which, as we know, each of us in our moral and family formation knows what to do, because asking in a forum the correct answer that is intrinsically within each of us. Right?

[adaseb]

I remember long time ago there was something called “Brain Wallet” and this was a disaster.
It was a type of custom private key you can set with a phrase.

Could be anything such as your name with your address, could be a poem or some other phrase from a book or movie. This way you don’t need to keep physical copies of your seed you can just remember it, hence it was called a Brain wallet.

Now what happened afterwards was that turns out humans think a lot alike and basically some bots used some random names, phrases, poems, etc and many of those with brain wallets got their bitcoins stolen.

This isn’t a real private key collusion, it was just a badly implemented way to generate wallets and doesn’t exist anymore.

[Faisal2202]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

If you miraculously got a private key to a BTC wallet, then it means you are looking for it, otherwise no one would be that idiot to loss a private key, even if a person saved it in his/her phone or on paper, they should not write it down as they are, they should encrypt it with some formula, a small knowledge of data encryption can come handy, even if the person is not that technical, some encryption rules are so easy. One should learn them first and then encrypt the Private key or seed phrase so when people like you (in case, as the whole scenario is imaginary) find the key they can't do any of it.

And talking about legality issues, I don't think it will be a problem until there is a system in the aforementioned countries where we can file a complaint with authorities about lost BTC or wallets. If there is any law then it could become a problem, a wise person should have to put a tracker on the activities of his own wallet, so he can track the movement and then take some action. Morality-wise, you should give the private key back to the real owner instead of just keeping it.

[Benedictare]

   Finding your lost wallet is not always easy,but if lucky, you have to use the Bitcoin recovery services and you have to give every detailed information about your lost wallet,like your public key or seed phrase and ones these information get to them,they will help you recover your Lost, but Bitcoin transactions are not reversible and as soon as money is being sent into a wallet, it is the person with the private key of that wallet will have access to the fund ,but if it is the private key or wallet that is lost,there is no way of recovering the funds.

   In searching for your lost wallet,you have to check for your backups, check through your computer's, desktop and drive,ask for help,retrace your steps and check any recovery tool around you .

[SatoPrincess]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

This reminds of a old thread, scammer gets scammed, only a dishonest person would take what doesn’t belong to him. Bitcoin is not gotten for free so the original owner definitely spent money to buy the coins, claiming the bitcoins for yourself is stealing. Although it is impossible to generate a seed phrase that has a active balance, if you do find someone’s seed phrase written somewhere, your morals will be determined by the your actions you take.

[wallet4bitcoin]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

I will consider it morally wrong to have a wallet that is not yours under your control, especially if you have gotten the complete access to it. Come to think of it, you did not create the wallet and you did not get it as a gift. However you arrived at this wallet is really questionable or maybe a wrong exposure of private key details but don't collect what is not your just because it is available.

I mean, values are what guides people and not necessarily the money we all work day and nigh to earn. If your value system doesn't complain about you wanting to take what is not ideally yours then it needs to be checked.

If it is legally right or wrong depends on the government policy in your domicile country.

[ItsaWhale]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

 when u find any make sure to check on all 
Derivation Path
BIP32
BIP44
BIP49
BIP84
BIP141


As you may find one that have bitcoins but u might be on wrong Path

[FinePoine0]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

OMG 😱
If it was that easy, Bitcoin wallets wouldn't have been around for a long time, thousands of hackers before you who thought of this idea but couldn't succeed. Your dreams will remain dreams, don't waste your time with such thoughts, no one can ever own so much money without interest. You stop thinking bad thoughts and come back to reality. One should not dream during the day.

[joeperry]

It actually depends on how you get it, not because it comes to you it means that you owns it and you have the right to spend it. A good example is that if you managed to get wallet on the streets or you stole it, that doesn't mean its yours even if you have it. There's no actual rules regarding this because cryptocurrency is not regulated in many countries and if they are regulated it is more like in the trading side and not in deeper things like this, but it's really unethical to use other peoples wallet just because you've got it somewhere without their consent.

I was assuming that you are trying different words and hoping to get a wallet with a Bitcoins on it? If yes, then it would take you more than a million years to open up one and the chances of having a Bitcoin on it is really low.

[Assface16678]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

OMG 😱
If it was that easy, Bitcoin wallets wouldn't have been around for a long time, thousands of hackers before you who thought of this idea but couldn't succeed. Your dreams will remain dreams, don't waste your time with such thoughts, no one can ever own so much money without interest. You stop thinking bad thoughts and come back to reality. One should not dream during the day.

True, that user is dreaming that even an AI or programmed software that is tasked with finding the combination key words in a wallet or seed phrase could take decades or not even be possible because there are a lot of words to be used and imagine only taking a guess; it will be really impossible, especially for a human. I don't know if that user is only saying hypothetically, but yeah, in reality, no one could get a wallet just by entering random key words or seed phrases because if yes, then it's proven that the wallet is not secured enough. That's the thing: if you want a secured and trusted wallet, make sure to use the ones that have a reputation and have been tested by many users. Because if you choose an unknown and unpopular wallet, you are putting your assets and yourself at risk, so you better choose those existing trusted wallets.

[hatshepsut93]

What do you mean by "miraculously got"? You won't generate them randomly, so not point in theorizing about that. But let's say you found someone's backups - then what you should do is try to find the person and contact them and return the coins to them. But if it's impossible because they're dead or even just couldn't be found, you could try to spend the coins. It could be very shady or even immoral depending on the exact circumstances, but it could also be okay if there's a certainty that the original owner will never access them and didn't pass ownership to anyone.

[FinePoine0]

Op Do you think bitcoin wallets are common?  Then you are an ass. Bitcoin has been around for a long time in the online world only for strong wallets.The stronger you use the more secure it is, as it is impossible to recover the bitcoins if the private key is ever lost. You are usually a nightmare to own bitcoins by logging in. You keep on thinking that fools have seen long ago, but have not succeeded.

[FinneysTrueVision]

There is no law against private key collisions but the possibility of you miraculously finding the keys to someone else’s wallet is so infinitesimally small that it would be assumed you hacked their wallet. If the other person received funds from a KYC exchange then they could prove they are the rightful owner and you might face legal consequences if they ever managed to track you down.

[SeriouslyGiveaway]

Currently, as far as I know, there is no legal problem when you accidentally get the private key of a wallet containing Bitcoin. No one will be able to control what you do with that wallet. As for when it's ethical to do this, it depends on your situation. I don't know where you got the information about this wallet from? Accidentally or did you intentionally get it? If it's accidental and you can't find its owner, consider that money falling from the sky. If you intentionally get it, then clearly this is an ethical issue you need to reconsider because this is improper behavior when you intentionally harm someone else's property.

[icalical]

It needs more than a miracle for anyone to find other people's private key, the only way for that to happened is that if you found a paper wallet or cold wallet. But those wallet are not usually carried around by the owner so the possibility of that to happened is nearly impossible. Other thing is that you might find pre-installed software wallet when you buy a second hand pc, but usually those software wallet has a password attached to it.
I don't think there is even 1 in a million chance that someone actually found a Bitcoin wallet private key.

[tajimas]

Finding out private key you never create is not something that happened in the crypto space except you are into illegal activities, and therefore private key to a wallet has nothing to do with it's location due to its security standards and how it's been operated.

[LesterD]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

Suppose we assume that you can magically obtain a private key that has a Bitcoin in it. Even in such a scenario, the only possible way for you to find the key is to locate it in a file or a scrap of paper previously written by someone else. Attempting to try multiple combinations of words to open a random wallet is a futile exercise that could take an entire lifetime. In short, finding such a key requires more than just a miracle.

[The Cryptovator]

I don't feel you would find a wallet with Bitcoin. But if you still find a wallet loaded with Bitcoin, you have full access to the funds if you have access to the seed phrase or private key. But that doesn't mean you own the bitcoin, even though you have full access. Technically, you can do anything with those funds, and provably, you may avoid any legal issues as well. But morally, you shouldn't spend that bitcoin. Because you aren't the owner of that bitcoin. You have to try to find the owner in various ways; if you fail, you may get help from legal authorities. 

[Hypnosis00]

You can have the wallet since you find it but you can never own the money/coins inside since you don't have the keys that will open it. Therefore, it was useless to find it, you don't have any benefits as you can never use that wallet. If I were you, better make your own wallet to have full access rather than claiming that the found wallet is yours. You can legally claim it was yours when you have the keys that is the way to prove ownership. Otherwise, cour claim id invalid and just a waste of time as we can never get anything that is inside.

[eye-con]

You can have the wallet since you find it but you can never own the money/coins inside since you don't have the keys that will open it. Therefore, it was useless to find it, you don't have any benefits as you can never use that wallet. If I were you, better make your own wallet to have full access rather than claiming that the found wallet is yours. You can legally claim it was yours when you have the keys that is the way to prove ownership. Otherwise, cour claim id invalid and just a waste of time as we can never get anything that is inside.

OP is discussing about obtaining the private key or seed phrase and suddenly finding Bitcoin inside.

If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it

To OP, technically speaking, if you found Bitcoin within a wallet to which you have access by obtaining a private key, you can do whatever you please with those funds. However, if you have a conscience and are aware that the funds are not rightfully yours, you would likely choose not to use the wallet and instead turn a blind eye to the funds.

[2Pizza410000BTC]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

Since it's a miracle, if you find a wallet and it has bitcoins in it, you're in trouble for that wallet. I want to tell you not to use that wallet. Return the wallet you found and if the rightful owner gets it you will be well served and if you use that wallet it will be stolen and people treated unfairly also I heard the law is the same as UK, USA, Canada and South America If you are very active in the country then you will have problems you may get caught.

[Silberman]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

There are no preestablished rules for that and you will need to decide what to do on your own, however the chances of that happening are very low, address collision is almost impossible so finding a private key or a series of seed words will need to happen by just finding a piece of paper or an electronic device with that information, which means there could be some ways to determine the origin of those coins, besides if the owner of those coins is smart they should realize they have lost their coins and move them out of that wallet as soon as they can, not giving too much opportunity for this dilemma to actually happen.

[jrrsparkles]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

Good luck finding such thing cause it's hypothetical to happen unless you broke into someone device digitally or physically and get hold of the seeds or privkeys. But if the wallet obtained via later then it's digital crime and you could face severe penalty along with prison time.

There is no point in answering a question that is likely to never happen.

[snipie]

Apparently many people think that finding a Bitcoin in some random wallet is like digging for a treasure in an abandoned land or something similar.
Regardless of how low the probability for this to happen, there will be two possibilities: the owner is no longer here so there will be no consequences or most likely the owner will report what happened to the police and legal actions will follow.

[Lida93]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

The chances of this miracle coming to a reality is out of context so I'll address this as a hypothetical concern. On the part of morality wether it's right or wrong all depends on the situation by which you got the seed phrase.

Assuming we all agree it's morally wrong to spend the money in the wallet in that case how do we know who the actual owner of the wallet is. So spending the money in the wallet now becomes morally acceptable even though it isn't yours originally.

On the other hand, if you're so unlucky that it's a wallet that is affiliated with crime related matter and probably the feds are after the original owner then I think in that case you are a scape goat to be roasted for having in possession such criminally connected money. So wake up from your slumber mate and stop anticipating for miracle money   else you might someday miraculously wake up in jail.

[Z390]

I don't know why people don't think very hard before making decisions, OP have you not think about this? What if the Bitcoin wallet you found belong to a big criminal that's on watch? What if the Bitcoin is already flagged and on track? You will have a lot of explanation to do if they mistook you as the real culprit.

Now who is going to believe you that you saw the Bitcoin wallet on the floor or something? You could end up in jail for finding a marked BTC wallet address, I think you need to do research on how exchanges track down hackers by flagging their wallet addresses and monitoring their movements.

Many hackers ended up with BTC that they can't even spend after they stole them, the few smart ones return most of the stolen assets and request to keep a certain amount, because they believe that this is the only way they can let them go and also be able to spend the remaining BTC they have.

[bayu7adi]

I'm sure 99% of people will immediately claim the amount of BTC in their wallet to send to their personal wallet. It's indeed a miracle, when someone finds the private key of a wallet that has a BTC balance and consider yourself lucky to have found it.

Until now there are no special rules that make it a violation, unless you intentionally hack someone else's wallet with bad intentions. Finding treasure is different from stealing treasure, since the anonymity of Bitcoin ownership still applies, I feel you are a lucky person and the victim is an unlucky person at that time.

I hope your conscience is wise enough to decide whether you want to take the money or not.

Please note that there are some wallets that are blacklisted by exchanges, because they may be used suspiciously. So be careful if you don't want the police to suddenly visit you home.

[fuguebtc]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

Since it's a miracle, if you find a wallet and it has bitcoins in it, you're in trouble for that wallet. I want to tell you not to use that wallet. Return the wallet you found and if the rightful owner gets it you will be well served and if you use that wallet it will be stolen and people treated unfairly also I heard the law is the same as UK, USA, Canada and South America If you are very active in the country then you will have problems you may get caught.

If you accidentally found someone's bitcoin wallet, would you really return it to its owner? Honestly , I'm skeptical of people who say this to try to be good people . The line between good and evil is very thin and if I were in that situation, I don't think I would be able to play the role of a perfect good person .

Personally, I've never been in that situation, but honestly, I don't know what I would do with bitcoin . If it was a large sum worth millions of dollars then I think it would be hard not to be tempted, I think I would just return it to the owner if the amount of bitcoins was too small for me . We should be honest, don't try to live a lie. We work hard and diligently to earn a few satoshis every day and it would be a lie to say that we will return to the owners when we find a few bitcoins or a few dozen bitcoins .

[Apocollapse]

If you accidentally found someone's bitcoin wallet, would you really return it to its owner? Honestly , I'm skeptical of people who say this to try to be good people . The line between good and evil is very thin and if I were in that situation, I don't think I would be able to play the role of a perfect good person .

Personally, I've never been in that situation, but honestly, I don't know what I would do with bitcoin . If it was a large sum worth millions of dollars then I think it would be hard not to be tempted, I think I would just return it to the owner if the amount of bitcoins was too small for me . We should be honest, don't try to live a lie. We work hard and diligently to earn a few satoshis every day and it would be a lie to say that we will return to the owners when we find a few bitcoins or a few dozen bitcoins .

If you care with every satoshis you make every day, I don't think you accept to lose a satoshi.

But it's good if you want to be honest, this is a part of morality, since we're live in capitalist society, it's nothing surprising people want to lose almost everything in order to earn money. As some people said, it's better to cry alone in luxury house than together but you can't even afford to buy foods.

[Troytech]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

Such miracles don't happen, but I it does, you just got yourself free bitcoin, they is no way I trust anyone to return it and how would you even know the owner of the wallet.

Wallets are actually location on the blockchain where your bitcoin are stored and private keys are your access to the location on the block chain, I Don't think there is anyway, you would actually end up with someones private key even if you try to guess.

You didn't hack so I don't think any laws are against you on this.

[synchronym]

I would say it is similar to finding a bank note. You could report it to the police, but how should the person who lost the bank note should prove it is his bank note ?

So in total I would follow the general law of the universe: It is all gods will - so pocket the money and be happy

op I can't agree with you. If he gets the wallet, if he makes a diary at the police station after getting the wallet, think about it, how will he make a diary at the police station if Bitcoin is illegal in the country where he got the wallet. Because he will be arrested as soon as he makes a diary in the police station. If bitcoin is illegal, if the government of that country declares bitcoin illegal, then he will never be able to make a diary. This kind of miracle happens a lot though or happens someone's wallet he gets I think it's never right to use someone else's wallet maybe or Germany he gets one he can get into trouble with the law so it's never right to use someone else's wallet.

[pinggoki]

Unless the real owner doesn't have any access to that wallet anymore and they have no means to know about the address of the wallet then you're likely good to go and do your finders keepers rule but you know that it's your moral obligation to find the person that truly owns that bitcoin right? I think that you should go to that route first of finding the owner rather than taking it all for yourself, I assume that you're a man of high standard when it comes to morality because you've asked first what to do in the case that you've found a wallet and you have an access to it, as much as I'd like to go with my base instinct of getting it for yourself, you need to do this first plus it's really good for you and you can sleep fine when you know that you're not stealing something. To prevent someone from claiming it though as if they really are the owner of that wallet, don't publish the address or the amount that it contains or make them sign a message that will prove their identity.

[fuguebtc]

If you accidentally found someone's bitcoin wallet, would you really return it to its owner? Honestly , I'm skeptical of people who say this to try to be good people . The line between good and evil is very thin and if I were in that situation, I don't think I would be able to play the role of a perfect good person .

Personally, I've never been in that situation, but honestly, I don't know what I would do with bitcoin . If it was a large sum worth millions of dollars then I think it would be hard not to be tempted, I think I would just return it to the owner if the amount of bitcoins was too small for me . We should be honest, don't try to live a lie. We work hard and diligently to earn a few satoshis every day and it would be a lie to say that we will return to the owners when we find a few bitcoins or a few dozen bitcoins .

If you care with every satoshis you make every day, I don't think you accept to lose a satoshi.

But it's good if you want to be honest, this is a part of morality, since we're live in capitalist society, it's nothing surprising people want to lose almost everything in order to earn money. As some people said, it's better to cry alone in luxury house than together but you can't even afford to buy foods.

That's what I mean , I really don't believe someone would be ethical enough to return bitcoins to the owner if it was a large amount of money . I've seen many people say they're willing to return bitcoins if they happen to find them but honestly, I'm willing to bet with anyone . They will never pay it back if the amount is large enough to tempt them . And like I said, for a small amount I'm willing to return it because it doesn't mean anything to me but if it's worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars I'll become a thief.

We spend hours on forum just to earn a few satoshis a day through signature campaigns, and we'd be lying if we weren't tempted when we accidentally picked up a bitcoin wallet worth millions .

[taufik123]

-snip-
I'm willing to bet with anyone . They will never pay it back if the amount is large enough to tempt them . And like I said, for a small amount I'm willing to return it because it doesn't mean anything to me but if it's worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars I'll become a thief.

We spend hours on forum just to earn a few satoshis a day through signature campaigns, and we'd be lying if we weren't tempted when we accidentally picked up a bitcoin wallet worth millions .

It depends on who finds it, because each human heart will have a different disposition.
But if you bet like that, indirectly, you will assume everyone who gets a wallet with thousands or millions of dollars of bitcoin will directly take it without finding out who owns it.

But if it is me, no matter how much money I find, it is not my right and not mine.
Looking for the owner is the most appropriate action, because I will not use other people's money that is losing.
It makes me also uneasy and life is always in anxiety.

I have been on this forum for almost 10 years and know Bitcoin and what it feels like to lose Bitcoin or other assets,
and it certainly makes us confused and quite stressed when losing assets.

When I find the asset and return it, it will be a quiet life for me.
It's not just about money, it's about how to be a human being who shuns greed and is afraid to take what is not rightfully ours.

[fuguebtc]

-snip-
I'm willing to bet with anyone . They will never pay it back if the amount is large enough to tempt them . And like I said, for a small amount I'm willing to return it because it doesn't mean anything to me but if it's worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars I'll become a thief.

We spend hours on forum just to earn a few satoshis a day through signature campaigns, and we'd be lying if we weren't tempted when we accidentally picked up a bitcoin wallet worth millions .

It depends on who finds it, because each human heart will have a different disposition.
But if you bet like that, indirectly, you will assume everyone who gets a wallet with thousands or millions of dollars of bitcoin will directly take it without finding out who owns it.

But if it is me, no matter how much money I find, it is not my right and not mine.
Looking for the owner is the most appropriate action, because I will not use other people's money that is losing.
It makes me also uneasy and life is always in anxiety.

I have been on this forum for almost 10 years and know Bitcoin and what it feels like to lose Bitcoin or other assets,
and it certainly makes us confused and quite stressed when losing assets.

When I find the asset and return it, it will be a quiet life for me.
It's not just about money, it's about how to be a human being who shuns greed and is afraid to take what is not rightfully ours.

If you can really do what you say, then I admire you very much and believe that there will not be too many people who can do it like you. Furthermore, as I said, none of us have ever been in that situation so it's difficult to know for sure what we would have done then . And as we all know how great the temptation of money is, that's why I'm skeptical when anyone picks up millions of dollars and returns them to their owners.

In life, I am a person who is afraid of retribution, I believe in cause and effect, so I never dare to deceive or take anything from anyone . But I don't know what I would do if I were faced with a large amount of money and it's a completely different problem because I've never been in that situation either.

Furthermore, do you know why I doubt everyone? Because I see people willing to defame each other, willing to find ways to destroy others to compete for bitcoin . They can do anything, so it would be a lie if they accidentally picked up someone else's bitcoin and wanted to return it.

[bettercrypto]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

How is it a miracle that you have a private key? What you say is not true; unless you are a hacker, that can happen. But the fact that you can discover a private key for Bitcoin is an impossible thing, unless you have a friend who you know is in the field of this industry.

And let's assume that what you said is true. Is there any news of something like that happening in the crypto space that returned a large amount of bitcoin because he discovered a private one that he got in a paper wallet, or a hardware wallet, or maybe in the files of a flash drive?

[taufik123]

How is it a miracle that you have a private key? What you say is not true; unless you are a hacker, that can happen. But the fact that you can discover a private key for Bitcoin is an impossible thing, unless you have a friend who you know is in the field of this industry.

And let's assume that what you said is true. Is there any news of something like that happening in the crypto space that returned a large amount of bitcoin because he discovered a private one that he got in a paper wallet, or a hardware wallet, or maybe in the files of a flash drive?

As in the story of a hard drive being thrown away and someone finding it, it can happen.
But if finding a random private key would be impossible, no one can penetrate a Bitcoin wallet with any random private key even though he is a hacker, it even takes a super computer to brute force, and it takes hundreds of years.

In response about the OP's question, directly if someone has a private key, then it is his/her because you can control it.
But in ownership it belongs to someone else, and you need to find out who owns the wallet.

[nakamura12]

If you find an information of a wallet where you can use to access a wallet with a balance on it then I would say that it is also your coins since you have the private key even though you just found it but if it is all about generating a new wallet and instead of a new wallet but the generated wallet contains bitcoin or someone is already using it is impossible. Someone else own it but you also have control of the wallet then you can move the bitcoin in that wallet and make it as your own but again, as others have explained, generating a wallet that already exist and contains bitcoin is impossible.

Using privacy tools in this case is pretty much like you're supporting criminal IMHO.

I don't think that if someone used a privacy tools then that person is pretty much like supporting a criminal but I would rather say that you are supporting doing criminal activities instead of supporting a criminal even though we know that the purpose of using it is to have privacy. Well, using privacy tools is considered as money laundering since you are hiding a transaction if you use a privacy tools in my opinion. Well, each of us have different views on using privacy tools.

[dezoel]

No one miraculously get someone else's Bitcoin key unless he steals it or hacks it from that individual. It's totally illegal to transfer any amount from that wallet because it's not your wallet and you aren't the owner of it.

In most cases when an owner has a Bitcoin wallet they keep the wallet address with them all the time and when someone makes a transaction out of it then the wallet owner can file a theft case against that thief.
If you really want to be safe from legal actions then don't do anything with that wallet.

Can you tell me that how in this physical and practical world someone could get a private key of a Bitcoin wallet miraculously? As far as I know, no miracles take place in technical world unless someone does a shady thing and considers it a miracle. 

Lol yeah, I wonder how he got it? If it's cryptos and he received it on his wallet, that is more possible. Apart from stealing and hacking, I think someone can also buy a private key and then someone can also search for it on the web. As long as the seller of the private key is also the owner of the wallet, it is legal but the rest seems not. If the lost amount is huge, indeed we must file a case but if not, I think we shouldn't bother anymore.

We can only move to another wallet and be careful with our actions next time. If we do it intentionally, that is not miracle anymore. It's also not a miracle if we won't get caught as it only shows that we are too skilled.

[summonerrk]

Like the title says what are the rules. If I miraculously got a private key to a wallet that had Bitcoin in it but was not mine originally then does that mean I now own the wallet like finders keepers and is there any legality issues with this in the usa,uk,canada,south america. Is this more of a morality should you or should you not.

I think that such a scenario is excluded, because I have never heard that someone could pick up the phrase the key to the wallet. I understand that this is what the post means. Nevertheless, if this happens, then the further actions depend solely on the moral views of the one who gained access to the wallet. I will say it bluntly - like 99 percent of people, I would immediately transfer this bitcoin to other wallets, most likely through services that you know very well about without me.

Another thing is if someone specifically hacks other people's wallets, spending effort and time on it, this is definitely the villain.

[Haunebu]

Interesting. It seems like you or someone that you know found a private key which is why you are debating whether or not you should take the funds or not. My assumption in this case could be completely wrong though.

Anyway, coming to your query, it's a moral choice for sure though you could get screwed when trying to access them if the funds are being tracked by cops. Risky stuff!

[Churchillvv]

Basically its almost impossible to find a wallet private key but if you do then it's now in your court to play the ball.

It's said that not your keys not your coin, so it's now your keys and hence your coin in some sense. but it's morally bad to keep another man's property to yourself, you should find a means to reach the owners.

But if you feel like spending the coin then you should know that your ID is always with exchanges so if you're thinking to spend at same time remember the authorities might track you because I'm the areas you mention Bitcoin isn't a legal tender but it's still legally used hence it's tired to governmental authorities and that could land you in jail if cought.