If you got in this situationn! What will you?

[Die_empty]

Some wallets are dormant but the owners are still alive and might be saving it for future purposes. If the owner is still alive, you just stole someone's money. But if it is a lost coin, that's a jackpot. But the major problem now is how to know if the owner is still around or it is a lost coin. 

If it is a lost coin, you can do whatever you want with it.

How he uses the fortune will determine if he would be in danger. If he decides to showcase his wealth, criminals will see him as a target.

[Loyang]

What you are guessing is not possible at all, it is impossible to catch, in the current situation, although you can guess and be correct, you can make it your own. Because in this situation, the person who controls the Bitcoin in the wallet owns the Bitcoin to the extent that he can control it. There are many inactive wallets whose owners have died, if someone can collect the Bitcoin of those wallets, then they will definitely be able to recover it, but my question is how can this be possible, which is very difficult for me?

Different questions on my mind pops up regading this scenario like these:

1. Did that someone break any Law upon discovery of this ^{(Based on country probable geolocation Laws exist for digital)}?
2. Is he allowed to spend it or transfer to another wallet and sold it
3. Technically on bitcoins perspective anyone control the keys or able to sign a message = own the bitcoin ^{(Is this somehow exempted?)}
4. Does he own now the bitcoin assuming the owner is probably dead and he can sign a message?
5. Is he fortunate or like win a Jackpot or just place himself more in danger upon discovering this?

Technically this is a huge debate Im surely wanted to know some answers. Whats your thought on this?

It is impossible to guess the seed phrase of the wallet, because only a few words out of many words are the seed phrase, so it is difficult to easily match it. If this were the case, then each person would continue to try and easily take the money in other people's wallets, we have been saving and holding Bitcoin wallets for a long time, but our wallet is very simple, but other people could not hack it by trying.

Guessing the wallet seed phrases is not easy at all and it definitely requires a lot of luck to match it. The probability of guessing is 100%, out of which there is a 99.9% chance of not matching and the remaining 0.1% chance of matching. It is said that there is no possibility of this happening. The person who goes ahead with such an idea or keeps trying may only face disappointment and may not get anything else.

If we take some precautions then we will never be a victim of hacking. Due to carelessness we are always a victim of hacking, if we are careful then we will never be a victim of such a thing. Yes, in some cases even if we are careful, there is no benefit but the companies get hacked and our holdings are stolen. I don't remember exactly but the Bybit exchanger was hacked.

[SamReomo]

I'll say that such a thing is possible in dreams but not in real life so thinking what I'll do with something that's not possible to have is no less than stupidity I guess. Let's say even if someone somehow gets access to a wallet's private key filled with $100 million worth of Bitcoin then that's no less than a jackpot. I think the best that person can do it to donate the money in charity so he/she won't face any issue whatsoever. However, such amount can be quite risky for someone with no security because if negative people find about such thing then the one who found it will be in danger.

[Freeveto]

Different questions on my mind pops up regading this scenario like these:

1. Did that someone break any Law upon discovery of this ^{(Based on country probable geolocation Laws exist for digital)}?
2. Is he allowed to spend it or transfer to another wallet and sold it
3. Technically on bitcoins perspective anyone control the keys or able to sign a message = own the bitcoin ^{(Is this somehow exempted?)}
4. Does he own now the bitcoin assuming the owner is probably dead and he can sign a message?
5. Is he fortunate or like win a Jackpot or just place himself more in danger upon discovering this?

Technically this is a huge debate Im surely wanted to know some answers. Whats your thought on this?

There is no any rule break; it is just a gift from heaven 

I think since you are able to guess the private key correctly, you become the new owner of the Bitcoin because it is clear to us that whoever lost his recovery keys have lost his Bitcoin, which means that whoever gets the recovery keys is the new owner of the Bitcoin. It is as simple as that; you become the new owner of the Bitcoin since you guessed the recovery private key right.

What to do with Bitcoin depends on you, you can decide to create a new wallet and send the out from here since you don't know the history of the wallet so that you will not make the same mistake as the previous owner of the Bitcoin made.

[Alonso_]

I saw this topic on Reddit/Bitcoin, and got curious if this ever happened on anyone. What actually will they do? Or does this kind of scenario implicate some lawful violations. Considering that someone didnt use any sort of unlawful stuff like knocking on someone door and forced to give a private key and steal it.

Lets just say a dormant wallet for a long time and someone luckily guess the keys.

I don't think this is possible to happen but for the fun of it, if I find a private key containing this amount, the first thing I will do is to move the money to a new wallet that I control the private keys before initiating the steps of getting to the rightful owner. I could create a topic here or on any crypto forum where my privacy is guaranteed and the post will request for anyone that have the private keys of the other wallet to come forward and prove ownership by signing a message from the wallet. If that is confirmed publicly, then we can begin discussing ways of returning his money.

Well I have never heard such a thing happening before, which is why I think it’s just a made of story, but this can possibly happen, because someone who have bitcoin stored somewhere in a wallet can accidentally loose their life, and nobody have access to their keys, but I’m wondering how you can possibly guess someone’s passkeys perfectly.

Judging from what you have said, I must say you’ could be a very generous person, because how do you think about creating a Topic here for someone to claim the money as the rightful owner, how about if the rightful owner  isn’t in the Forum or dead and nobody can claim it in the forum or any other place, what can we do about it in such a situation that you’ve made that efforts.

[HajiBagi]

Guessing a key is not that easy, and I am not that lucky to guess a key or seed phrase that can unlock me a wallet with $1 billion in it haha. I love to daydream as well, but this one never came to my mind.

I dont even think this is even possible. The seedphrase is so difficult that if you dont know it take advantage of wallet you cant have access. If it wee easy for scammers to guess words to have access of wallets,  many wallets would have been compromised and because of this non custodial wallet would have been one not to rely one for security. The seedphrase is so difficult to try that even if some of them are exposed and the others are still hidden it will still be difficult to login.

I don't think that will happen, guessing someone's seed phrase and even gaining access will be difficult, if that can happen, why are scammers stressing about getting people's attention before scamming them? However, according to the post, I believe it is simply about what you will do if that happens, for example, if I see someone's seed phrase written on a piece of paper or you guessed it and it is correct, what will you do if you gain access to the wallet? I will not touch it or even try to break into the wallet and see what is inside.

Although an opportunity may arise that will change your life forever, but if you enter someone's wallet and transfer the currency to another wallet, you are a criminal and have stolen from another person, because you have no idea how the person struggled to get the coin.

[jcojci]

If that is not yours, you should not use it and just keep it. You know that break the law because you use something that you don't own. But I am not sure because seeing the wallet contain $1+ Billion USD balance could tempting someone to use small portion.  That is your call whether you want to use it or keep it.

But I wonder how they get the wallet? If they steal the wallet and all info, they stolen the funds and that breaks the law. But that will be a big jackpot for those people

[SOKO-DEKE]

It’s not that easy for someone to guess a seed phrase.but let know that even attempting to do so could be considered criminal because, why would someone be trying to guess another person’s seed phrase if they weren’t planning to steal the funds?What would make someone act like that? Even if the wallet is not dormant, they would likely try to move the Bitcoin that is in it. So, we should not cover for anyone trying to access another person’s wallet. That person is acting criminally and I don’t know if there are any country whose laws would not consider such a person a criminal.As for me, I would never try to guess a seed phrase. But if, by mistake, I found someone’s seed phrase exposed somewhere, I might pick it up and keep it safe. I could possibly check wallet and see what is there, but I would not  move any funds even after found out there is funds. I would keep the seed phrase with me for a long period of time and if not any attempt in the wallet for while is them I will decide what to do next.

[Cricktor]

Hasn't this, in some way or another, been asked a thousand times or so here and at other places where crypto coiners or Bitcoiners in particular are lurking around?

In the first place while it's mathematically possible, it's practically impossible to stumble (or guess) a private key that still controls unspent funds. Probability is so close to zero that you can say, it's basically zero. Babbling anything else is nonsense or you don't understand how Bitcoin works.

Guess what, all private keys are already known, starting at
0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
up to
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFEBAAEDCE6AF48A03BBFD25E8CD0364140 (hexadecimal here, apparently).
(Source: any decent documentation of Bitcoin and its secp256k1 elliptic curve, max. is order of finite field minus one)

What you don't know, except for your own private keys you control, are any other private keys that still control any funds that aren't yours, be it a few Satoshis or funds equiv. to one billion bucks as OP's citation suggested to babble about.

If you need a picture (which is still not imaginable due to the huge numbers involved). Imagine Bitcoin as a bank with vaults like shelf boxes, only that those vaults are completely open, they have no doors. Every Bitcoin private key is one of those vaults and every vault can contain multiple coin chunks aka UTXOs. Our imaginary Bitcoin bank now has a "wall" of vaults, almost 2¹²⁸ times 2¹²⁸ open box vaults. Almost all are empty, only a tiniest fraction of vaults are filled with coins, I repeat, no doors.

Technically anybody could reach into such a vault that isn't yours and grab the coins therein. It's morally wrong and if it's lawfully wrong, that's on your country's jurisdiction or that of the vault's legitimate owner (or both?).

My point is, you don't have the time or energy to find any filled "Bitcoin vault" (with decent entropy aka "vault number") that isn't yours in the first place. I believe it's pointless to fantasize about "what if you stumble over a private key controlling $xxxx equivalents".
It simply won't happen in your lifetime, the lifetime of our solar system, of our galaxy, the universe...  Period!

[Pandorak]

It’s exactly like the daydreams i have before going to sleep

If i actually managed to get that much money, i think my family would stay rich for seven generations, LOL.

Personally, i assume that if you actually got it, the outcome would be nothing but punishment, because it’s hard to imagine that with such a large amount of Bitcoin, the original owner would lose access to the wallet’s private key. Unless, of course you know that person has passed away, in which case everything would automatically become yours since you might be the only one who knows the private key. Even then, that’s only if the owner didn’t have time to give the private key to their heir.

[snowpega]

This is going to be interesting, haha. I think if anyone luckily finds or cracks any private key of a dormant wallet.
Then this can also be considered a hacking act, no matter whether you guessed it randomly. Your part of the story will be that you guessed it randomly, but authorities will consider it part of a hack and illegal, haha. Like, let's say you get that money and use it to buy homes, planes and cars.

And when authorities will notice your lifestyle changing so fast, then they will dig into the matter deeply and try to catch you. So that they can take that money into their custody. But I am sure whenever they will siezed that money from you, that money will also fall victim to corruption. Their target will be just that; in any way they get that money from you, haha. This is my point of view. CMIIW!

[oll]

1. Did that someone break any Law upon discovery of this ^{(Based on country probable geolocation Laws exist for digital)}?
2. Is he allowed to spend it or transfer to another wallet and sold it
3. Technically on bitcoins perspective anyone control the keys or able to sign a message = own the bitcoin ^{(Is this somehow exempted?)}
4. Does he own now the bitcoin assuming the owner is probably dead and he can sign a message?
5. Is he fortunate or like win a Jackpot or just place himself more in danger upon discovering this?

Technically this is a huge debate Im surely wanted to know some answers. Whats your thought on this?

For some reason, it seems to me that bitcoins in someone else’s wallet shouldn’t belong to anyone other than the person who earned them. Because I understand that someone might say, “It’s whoever’s keys are used to access them,” but in reality, it’s not that simple. In fact, the bitcoins will belong to that person from the moment the private key is guessed, and they will be able to transfer or exchange them. But essentially, if I steal the keys to my neighbor’s car, his car won’t become mine; legally, it will still be his. Therefore, I believe that both the factual and the legal aspects of the issue should be taken into account.

[Nothingtodo]

Here, every question has to be answered strangely because if someone can match the key of a Bitcoin wallet worth a billion dollars, then I can definitely say that it is a coincidence and unrealistic event. Although I do not know whether such an event is happening till date, but if it happens in life, then I will definitely say that it is a miracle. However, matching Bitcoin wallets is not a crime because in this case, if the owner of a Bitcoin wallet is dead and later someone can match the key of his wallet, then it is undoubtedly legal. I do not see anything criminal here because the owner himself is dead and no one could access his wallet. Then I must say that if someone can match the wallet seed phase of that dead person, then he can definitely use it.
Actually, this is an unrealistic event and I am expressing my opinion on that event which is actually never possible.

[Felicity_Tide]

1. Did that someone break any Law upon discovery of this ^{(Based on country probable geolocation Laws exist for digital)}?
2. Is he allowed to spend it or transfer to another wallet and sold it
3. Technically on bitcoins perspective anyone control the keys or able to sign a message = own the bitcoin ^{(Is this somehow exempted?)}
4. Does he own now the bitcoin assuming the owner is probably dead and he can sign a message?
5. Is he fortunate or like win a Jackpot or just place himself more in danger upon discovering this?

Controlling bitcoin keys or being able to sign a message sounds like a perfect way to claim ownership until you find yourself defending a legal battle where you are being forced to prove the source of the assets_{(which is Bitcoin in this case)}. No matter the angle you choose to look at it, as long as it is not legally yours or was not willing given to you, then I think it can be considered theft. You have no business moving someone else's funds around whether they're dead or alive.

It's weird to even consider people's hard earned money as Jackpot. We might not necessarily know how certain laws might react to this, but it's best not to put yourself in such a position where you wouldn't be able to tell whether the aftermath could ruin your life or not. It's best never to put the law to test because it can bite harder than you imagine.

[HelliumZ]

When the security seed phase of a wallet is in the hands of someone, that person is essentially the owner of that wallet. Now basically if more than one person has the security seed phase of a wallet, then if more than one person claims to be the owner of that wallet, then legally everyone will have to be declared as the owner.

However, in my case, if I could match any wallet, then I would definitely go offline from online for the rest of my life with that much dollar.

[aoluain]

Technically this is a huge debate Im surely wanted to know some answers. Whats your thought on this?

A dormant wallet, which seems inaccessible to the owner, keeping aside the possibility of something like this happening, doesn't change

How do we define "dormant"?

There is no expiry on a Bitcoin address.

If we think an address is dormant just because the funds contained within havent moved
in X amount of time, it doesnt necessarily mean its a forgotten address or that the owner
no longer has access to it. It may very well belong to a long term HODL wallet and the owner
may very well have plans for that in the future.

So yea, just because I guess the correct access to a wallet it doesnt mean I am entitled to it,
thats just scamming/thievery.

[JiiBs]

Since it's a guess, no one can actually blame you for that but, your good conscience should tell you it's not your coin and you shouldn't transfer the coins in that wallet to any other wallet of your choosing. For what is worth, the owner might just be holding it there all along and having to transfer it would constitute theft even though you might not be caught since, it wasn't on any exchange that has your KYC documents.  By the way, you shouldn't go about guess private keys if you don't have ill intentions before proceeding to the activity.

[Crypto Library]

1. Did that someone break any Law upon discovery of this ^{(Based on country probable geolocation Laws exist for digital)}?

First of all, I have to say that if the source of that fund is something illicit, then it is considered black money from the very beginning and I don't think that any law will be broken as a result of its discovery, but if we use it to gain any personal benefit, then the law will definitely be broken.

2. Is he allowed to spend it or transfer to another wallet and sold it

I don't think this would be an ethical thing to do because although it may seem like a lottery at first glance, it is not a lottery. It could be a person's hard-earned funds or it could be funds from a hacker group. If you spend it now, knowingly or unknowingly, then there is a high chance that you will end up in trouble later.

3. Technically on bitcoins perspective anyone control the keys or able to sign a message = own the bitcoin ^{(Is this somehow exempted?)}

Technically and logically it is true that if someone owns the private key of a wallet, then someone owns those bitcoins. But, you know about hackers.
Like a few days ago, hackers stole more than 1400 bitcoins due to a firmware vulnerability in coldcard. So in this case if they own the private key of each wallet, will they own every bitcoin?

4. Does he own now the bitcoin assuming the owner is probably dead and he can sign a message?

Actually, I think there should be no word "probably" in this matter, if the person who will get the private key of this wallet knows that person and that person dies, then I think that the wallet should definitely be returned to that person's inheritance along with the funds. And here, if you don't know anything about the owner of the wallet, then you shouldn't spend those bitcoins.

5. Is he fortunate or like win a Jackpot or just place himself more in danger upon discovering this?

Definitely I would say this would be an ethical if he things that it is a Jackpot for him, and also at the same time it can bring a lot of danger to him.

[batang_bitcoin]

I doubt it someone can successfully guess or brute force a private key that contains that much. The situation might either someone who's got a flash drive that has saved keys or files in there and able to recover when it's opened not knowingly that there's some btc in it from the actual or former owner. I don't think that there are laws that can indicate into the situation not unless the one who has given that will contest it and there goes the dispute which can happen. Someone who recovers that amount is fortunately and that's a life changing money that can put him into retirement.

[Hazink]

I doubt it someone can successfully guess or brute force a private key that contains that much. The situation might either someone who's got a flash drive that has saved keys or files in there and able to recover when it's opened not knowingly that there's some btc in it from the actual or former owner. I don't think that there are laws that can indicate into the situation not unless the one who has given that will contest it and there goes the dispute which can happen. Someone who recovers that amount is fortunately and that's a life changing money that can put him into retirement.

A flash drive could possibly still leave some doubt in the person, especially when bought from someone who you know or connected to the feeling of you are spending or claiming the person's money might be their, but another possible scenario which I can think of is for those who are into gadgets importation business buy and resell used gadgets including hard disk which some at times are not wiped buying one of those and discovering there are some bitcoin key stored on it, that to me can be considered as a bonus and gift which fell from above and will be claimed without any single doubt in my head.