If you got in this situationn! What will you?

[Sonia_123]

Since it is a dormant account then whoever is privilege to access it has nor done any wrong and you can't call it stealing since nobody has come to claim it, therefore the money can be spent as you wish with wisdom, he can do whatever he wants with the money because he has not broken any law of the government


There is no danger attached to it, the only time we can say it will be dangerous is when the owner is still alive and can access his wallet if not he becomes the new owners since the owner is dead. there is no problem not even the government can't know what is happening, except he has to inform them.

But if the wallet owner is still alive and monitoring his account then we can say he his stealing which is a crime before the law, so you should be ready to face the law.

Truth be told since you are not the original owner of the account which you are accessing then you are stealing, one should avoid such wallet because it can be a trap unknown to you.

[terrific]

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?

1. There's lack of probable cause to say that anyone who just founds out a wallet with that money is guilty of breaking a law.
2. I guess so, who believes about "finders, keepers"?
3. That's actually it, if he knows the private keys of it and the situation really lacks of sufficient cause to say whether he technically owned it or not.
4. Yes.
5. Yes.

[uchegod-21]

Another imagination   

I am usually careful about taking what does not belong to me. How well can we prove that the account is truly dormant and there is no one to claim the bitcoins? What if the real owners are just saving or hodling the bitcoins for a very long term? I can imagine the heartbreak coming back to find their savings missing

What I will do if I find myself in such situation is that, I will monitor the address closely for another year or two years. If the account remains dormant, I will assume that the owners are missing also.

I will transfer the bitcoins to a different wallet and still put my ears down to hear anyone cry out for his missing bitcoins. If anyone cries out and can prove it, i Will return it.
 

[hd49728]

I am usually careful about taking what does not belong to me. How well can we prove that the account is truly dormant and there is no one to claim the bitcoins?

You can check UTXOs and find dormant ones but there are different criteria for identification of dormant UTXOs. With different thresholds, you will find different dormant UTXOs.

For example you can use this Bitcoin hodl waves with different bands of UTXOs and find your own-defined dormant ones.
https://www.lookintobitcoin.com/charts/hodl-waves/

More important, being dormant does not mean bitcoins stored in such dormant UTXOs are actually lost.
Most important, if those bitcoins are actually lost by owners, it does not mean you have rights to claim that those coins are yours, it's illegal and immoral.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

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

Only one thing is ideal here, which is to turn a blind eye to what's not yours. I didn't work for that money so why should I spend it. If the same thing is done to my hard earn money, how will I feel that's what i ask myself before taking amy decision. You can't also say it's a blessing from God because God won't ask you to steal what's not yours.

So it doesn't matter what the law in your country says, it just isn't moral for you to keep what's not yours. Meanwhile what's with the guessing of private key imagination to begin with, there are just some things I don't imagine and I don't like to put myself in such situations.

Again what isn't yours shouldn't be kept irrespective of the way you got hold of that thing unless you got gifted.

[Zoomic]

I've read different opinions here from people about what they'll do if they find themselves in the situation captured by the Op, they're all valid.

However, I think we sometimes imagine stories around things that though are theoretically possible, but practically unrealistic.

Yes I know that it's possible for a random person to discover the private keys to a billion dollars but what are the actual chances that such thing will ever happen?

A wallet with digital asset of such value will not be kept in places were the private keys can be randomly discovered.

[Anayochukwu]

If the wallet is not yours then it's stealing because I don't see any reason why someone would start guessing the key to the wallet is isn't theirs if stealing wasn't in their mind to start with, stealing is stealing but it would have been different if you received Bitcoin from wallet that is unknown to you then you didn't do anything wrong because it came to you but in this case you are the one that is guessing the key of a wallet that has obviously nothing to do with you unless the real owner is dead and you are a relative.

[Swordsoffreedom]

If the wallet is not yours then it's stealing because I don't see any reason why someone would start guessing the key to the wallet is isn't theirs if stealing wasn't in their mind to start with, stealing is stealing but it would have been different if you received Bitcoin from wallet that is unknown to you then you didn't do anything wrong because it came to you but in this case you are the one that is guessing the key of a wallet that has obviously nothing to do with you unless the real owner is dead and you are a relative.

If you're trying to guess or gain access to someone else's wallet, even if you don't get anything from it, can still be considered stealing.

But whether it's intentional or not, if you happened to find wallet that has nothing to do with you and realized it had a huge amount of Bitcoin in it, what would you do?

Tbh, I find it really hard to believe that any of us could resist that temptation, even knowing it's stealing and you could even get prosecuted if you got caught.

[Z-tight]

Since it is a dormant account then whoever is privilege to access it has nor done any wrong and you can't call it stealing since nobody has come to claim it, therefore the money can be spent as you wish with wisdom, he can do whatever he wants with the money because he has not broken any law of the government

I don't know what some of you guys think a dormant wallet is, the fact that someone has not moved their coins for a long time doesn't mean the coins are lost, the owner could simply be a long term holder. There are many users like this in the BTC community, even in this forum, who have BTC stored in wallets that they haven't spent a sat from in years, and that doesn't make them any less the owner.

[KiaKia]

If you can guess a recovery seed in your head and import into a wallet then you landed on a billion dollars balance then the security of the wallet is whacked job because with such amount of money they should do more than just recovery seed.

Such crypto wallet should have passphrase implemented, I should have landed on a empty wallet balance instead of this much amount of money, I will teach the person a small lesson my moving the funds into a new address then sending it back later.

Maybe after a week? Or two? I know such person would have shit their pants already,  enough time to atleast make them reconsider their strategy, it's going to be hard to restrict such temptation though, many will take some part and send the rest back.

[ultrloa]

Since it is a dormant account then whoever is privilege to access it has nor done any wrong and you can't call it stealing since nobody has come to claim it, therefore the money can be spent as you wish with wisdom, he can do whatever he wants with the money because he has not broken any law of the government

I don't know what some of you guys think a dormant wallet is, the fact that someone has not moved their coins for a long time doesn't mean the coins are lost, the owner could simply be a long term holder. There are many users like this in the BTC community, even in this forum, who have BTC stored in wallets that they haven't spent a sat from in years, and that doesn't make them any less the owner.

I don't know why they think about if the wallet is dormant then its fine to access it. That mindset is so wrong and most likely they might go to jail for having that wrong perception.

If the wallet is dormant that does not actually mean the wallet is been abandon or lost. Maybe the owner just decide to hide their balances in that wallet for long time.

But if people found out that there's a wallet that have huge funds, there's good chance that they might get defeated by their greed. Since there's huge funds already in their doorsteps. But I suggest not to touch anything, since this is much better for us to avoid any serious issues.

[hd49728]

I don't know why they think about if the wallet is dormant then its fine to access it. That mindset is so wrong and most likely they might go to jail for having that wrong perception.

If the wallet is dormant that does not actually mean the wallet is been abandon or lost. Maybe the owner just decide to hide their balances in that wallet for long time.

It's certainly not legally fine but it's not a big concern at all because there is no working way to find Bitcoin private keys from dormant UTXOs and public addresses.

This is a challenging task that is impossible to solve at the present and even in the future, so legally accepted or illegally, who actually care because we all know that it can not be done.

Nobody will go to jail, not because stealing bitcoins of the other people is legally allowed, but because there will be no one can find Bitcoin private keys of the others simply from Bitcoin public addresses identified from dormant UTXOs.

[Ayers]

Since it is a dormant account then whoever is privilege to access it has nor done any wrong and you can't call it stealing since nobody has come to claim it, therefore the money can be spent as you wish with wisdom, he can do whatever he wants with the money because he has not broken any law of the government

I don't know what some of you guys think a dormant wallet is, the fact that someone has not moved their coins for a long time doesn't mean the coins are lost, the owner could simply be a long term holder. There are many users like this in the BTC community, even in this forum, who have BTC stored in wallets that they haven't spent a sat from in years, and that doesn't make them any less the owner.

it doesn't matter whether the wallet is active or not, or whether the owner is still alive or already dead. as Anayochukwu pointed out, if it doesn't belong to us, any attempt to access it can be considered theft and an illegal act.

But if people found out that there's a wallet that have huge funds, there's good chance that they might get defeated by their greed. Since there's huge funds already in their doorsteps. But I suggest not to touch anything, since this is much better for us to avoid any serious issues.

we'd probably tell ourselves that if we ever found that much bitcoin, we'd definitely try to return it to the owner. but that could change once we are actually in that situation. i worry greed might take over, and we'd endup thinking about keeping the Bitcoin for ourselves.

[letteredhub]

Snip

Would it be okay if it happened that I discovered a bug in a software firm's wallet and I actually on that vulnerable and moved thousands of bitcoins to my custody as a new owner of the bitcoins. Does that give me the right to claim ownership just because I discovered a bug and technically didn't hack the system? Because from what am looking at it's no difference with gaining access to a bitcoin wallet through a guesswork of the wallet keys which happened to be correctly.

That a person mistakenly forgot his luggage at the airport because he was carring too many luggages, and then I was able to guess right at my first glance of it that that's a lost luggage that may have being forgotten by the real owner. It doesn't make whatever it's inside that luggage to automatically be mine. The law would not be emotional or passionate about the fact that it wasn't through robbery or any form of violence I was able to lay hold of it

[Marykeller]

Honestly, I can't take what's not mine; under no circumstances will I do that. That's why I try hard to work out for the things I need, so that I won't think of stealing from others to appear rich.

In this kind of setting, you gave a thought; the one I think that is feasible is discovering private keys by chance, not second-guessing it, because that's one of the rare things someone can imagine, not to mention having private keys that have a billion USD.

However, if by chance I discover such, I won't take a dime from it, so that no traces of stolen funds will be on me that I took what's not mine

[Curious T]

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

It's not yours. As far as I know, no country allows people to take what is not theirs. If you somehow gain access to someone else's Bitcoin by guessing the seed phrase, using it means you're stealing.

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

It's true that if owns the keys, you control the bitcoin, but that still does not make it yours. Hackers that find a way to get hold of people's seed phrase and control the Bitcoin are considered as thieves, even though they have the seed phrase.

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

Nope. It's not his to own. Whether the person is dead or alive, the bottom line is it's not his to own. A person being dead doesn't give you the right to take their stuff. Even the bank does not have the right to take a dead person's money.

[Filicius]

The other side of the coin of "not your keys, not your coins" seems to be "your keys, your coins". I see that many users think that way, but it is not about giving an opinion, but about knowledge of national laws.

In Spain, and I suppose that the same happens in all countries that are based on continental or civil law, the fact that you could access the contents of the wallet would not automatically make you the owner of the funds. So that it happens, there must be what Romans called traditio, that is, that the legitimate owner transfers his property rights to you, among other requirements, with a so called iusta causa (just cause). There is no difference between the situation proposed by the OP and finding the keys to a house, or the password to a safe: its possession does not make you the owner of it or its contents unless the rightful owner has given them to you with that intention.

With Bitcoin there could always be the difficulty of proving the original ownership, of course, but that is another issue.

[Jasmyne]

Technically, if you hold the private key, then you are the owner of those addresses, so the first thing I would do is a sweep.

I am a kind-hearted person and will be returning them if it is in hundred but a billion dollar treasure is no joke and everyone would do the same thing in my opinion.

I understand so many persons will do the same thing but I want you to enlighten me on something. You said you will be returning it if it’s in hundred, just curious, how do you do that, how possible is that and also what if the person is death?

[suzanne5223]

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

In the crypto space, whoever controls the private keys controls the coin and is technically the owner, but when it comes to a legal perspective, if you didn’t use force or hacking to get the wallet private keys, accessing Bitcoin assets that still legally belong to someone else will be considered theft.

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

If the original owner of the BTC reports the issue to the authorities and backs it with evidence, the person will face criminal charges. I believe the answer to questions one nd two already answered all your questions.

[Humblevirus]

Whether someone guessed the seed phrase and got it right or saw it somewhere that it was hiding, as far as you are not the one that owns the wallet, the Bitcoin is not for you.It is true technically that anyone who is holding the seed phrase and can access and control the wallet is the owner, but in your own mind, it is not for you. So, that means it is not for you. And if you try spending it out to another wallet and you are caught, you are going to have to explain yourself and there may not be enough evidence to back up your claim.

In fact, if you even guessed the seed phrase and got it correct, that means you are a thief because, if you had no intention of stealing, you would never think of guessing someone else seed phrase. There is no reason why someone would want to guess another person seed phrase or password if their intention is not to access the wallet without the owner permission and steal,and doing that is totally a criminal offence because of someone claimed it guessed it. The question would be, why were you trying to guess someone else seed phrase in the first place?if the intention is not to steal.