What are the rules for finding wallets

[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.