Is stealing bitcoins illegal?

[BlindMayorBitcorn]

Quite a large sum of existing bitcoins are stolen, so wouldn't it be a crime to accept bitcoins in the first place? 

But bitcoins don't actually exist as such, but as spaces in a ledger with a transaction history. Or am I mistaken?

[exoton]

Quite a large sum of existing bitcoins are stolen, so wouldn't it be a crime to accept bitcoins in the first place? 

It is not actually possible to "steal" bitcoin as bitcoin is fungible and do not physically exist. The same logic goes for accepting bitcoin that can be traced back to "stolen" bitcoin.

What is illegal is the act of hacking a computer/some kind of account that contains a person's private keys. This is somewhat of a different crime, however generally will have similar, if not worse consequences

[calchuchesta]

Quite a large sum of existing bitcoins are stolen, so wouldn't it be a crime to accept bitcoins in the first place? 

It is not actually possible to "steal" bitcoin as bitcoin is fungible and do not physically exist. The same logic goes for accepting bitcoin that can be traced back to "stolen" bitcoin.

What is illegal is the act of hacking a computer/some kind of account that contains a person's private keys. This is somewhat of a different crime, however generally will have similar, if not worse consequences

Well, if someone has his wallet on a usb pendrive, don't they exist physically throught that usb pendrive?

[exoton]

Quite a large sum of existing bitcoins are stolen, so wouldn't it be a crime to accept bitcoins in the first place?  

It is not actually possible to "steal" bitcoin as bitcoin is fungible and do not physically exist. The same logic goes for accepting bitcoin that can be traced back to "stolen" bitcoin.

What is illegal is the act of hacking a computer/some kind of account that contains a person's private keys. This is somewhat of a different crime, however generally will have similar, if not worse consequences

Well, if someone has his wallet on a usb pendrive, don't they exist physically throught that usb pendrive?

No. Only the private keys would be stored on the USB drive. The private keys are what allow the inputs that have been sent to the BTC address to be spent. There would be no "balance" on the USB drive. This is a very difficult concept for many people to grasp and is very different from how traditional banking/assets works

[Mr. Burns]

For example, if I mislead someone into sending me a large amount of bitcoins (in the United States) would that be illegal?

If I did not force them to do anything, but they sent them anticipating me to send a product in return, but I never send it.

Would this be considered illegal considering no one would know whether the bitcoin address that received the bitcoins was my address?

U can try, but g-d will probably take over and forbid it

[funtotry]

Quite a large sum of existing bitcoins are stolen, so wouldn't it be a crime to accept bitcoins in the first place?  

It is not actually possible to "steal" bitcoin as bitcoin is fungible and do not physically exist. The same logic goes for accepting bitcoin that can be traced back to "stolen" bitcoin.

What is illegal is the act of hacking a computer/some kind of account that contains a person's private keys. This is somewhat of a different crime, however generally will have similar, if not worse consequences

Well, if someone has his wallet on a usb pendrive, don't they exist physically throught that usb pendrive?

No. Only the private keys would be stored on the USB drive. The private keys are what allow the inputs that have been sent to the BTC address to be spent. There would be no "balance" on the USB drive. This is a very difficult concept for many people to grasp and is very different from how traditional banking/assets works

It's counter-intuitive. Even when I explain it to myself I don't get it

You cannot steal bitcoin as they do not actually exist in reality. You can only steal data that controls bitcoin

[Tstar]

i think word "stealing" explains it all
theft is theft, no matter what you are stealing, its a crime

[Purple Wayne]

i think word "stealing" explains it all
theft is theft, no matter what you are stealing, its a crime

Well, there are sometimes other factors and sometimes people have differing opinions on what theft is, ie with copywrite theft.

[Flashman]

RIAA have warped the kiddies minds... now they can't tell difference between filesharing and stealing, since RIAA insist filesharing is stealing and everybody with an ounce of common sense knows it isn't. So moving any data now looks like filesharing. To be a theft, the use of the data has to be denied of the owner. All the rest are IP or copyright violations, and method of obtaining may be the greater crime than possession.

So, you do anything to anybody else's bitcoins that denies them the future use of those bitcoins, it's theft.

Just to spell it out, this is a crime. Crimes draw cops. Interactions with cops have a nonzero chance of you being shot dead.

[lili song]

It depend on every country's regulation

At my country, Bitcoin isn't being notice yet
so my goverment still doesn't make any regulation regarding bitcoin.
   
Therefore , stealing bitcoin is legal

But my conscience says, illegal

[Flashman]

I doubt it...

Laws against theft in general, do not need to specifically mention bitcoin in order to protect it. Does the law have to be amended for every new iPhone that comes out in order to make stealing it illegal? No.

If you built a picnic table out of wood grown on your own land, and had some reasonable proof that you did so (Photo etc) and it was stolen, would it need a special law to legally recognise that picnic table before you could report it stolen? No.

[Dogtanian]

It's obviously a crime as you have stolen someone elses property (even though it's digital), but whether the police would be able to do anything about it is another matter.

[Flashman]

but whether the police would be able to do anything about it is another matter.

I'd stick an "immediately" in there. In 5-10 years, all police may have computing resources for deep blockchain analysis, and be able to "clear up" old theft and fraud reports with a couple of mouse clicks. Should the jurisdiction they are in be letting the department keep a proportion of the fine or court award against the thief or fraudster, you become a cash cow to be milked.

[Snail2]

As far as I know according to IRS bitcoin should treated as property. If it's property then stealing it is a crime.

[botany]

As far as I know according to IRS bitcoin should treated as property. If it's property then stealing it is a crime.

I guess stealing bitcoins would have been a crime even before the IRS recognized it as property.
Stealing is stealing, after all.

[feverpitch]

For example, if I mislead someone into sending me a large amount of bitcoins (in the United States) would that be illegal?

If I did not force them to do anything, but they sent them anticipating me to send a product in return, but I never send it.

Would this be considered illegal considering no one would know whether the bitcoin address that received the bitcoins was my address?

Of course it's illegal.  It's a federal offence to steal something of value.

[malaimult]

but whether the police would be able to do anything about it is another matter.

I'd stick an "immediately" in there. In 5-10 years, all police may have computing resources for deep blockchain analysis, and be able to "clear up" old theft and fraud reports with a couple of mouse clicks. Should the jurisdiction they are in be letting the department keep a proportion of the fine or court award against the thief or fraudster, you become a cash cow to be milked.

This will probably be much more difficult they you imply, especially for smaller amounts.

It is very difficult to know when a transaction is sending bitcoin to another person or just a transfer to yourself (plus if you properly use change addresses, almost every transaction will include one transfer to yourself).

Even if stolen bitcoin is transferred directly to an exchange, it is possible that the exchange could go out of business sometime between now and 10 years from now, leaving behind no records, so even if it is determined that an address associated with stolen bitcoin belongs to a specific exchange (who verified someone's identity) it may not be possible to determine who exactly was behind the transaction

[Notanon]

Theft is theft, there are no two ways about it. No different to someone hacking into a bank and transferring small amounts out of different accounts without being noticed.

[Amph]

not being noticed doesn't make it not illegal

[LitcoinCollector]

Yes stealing bitcoin in this construction is illegal.