Is stealing Bitcoin illegal? - page 41.

rinhunter

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Quote from: Alanay on July 16, 2016, 05:32:05 PM

Let's say I generate a new address and by some miracle it has Bitcoin already in it belonging to somebody else. Is it legal to just take it? I understand those odds are very low, no need to lecture me, I'm just interested.

I think it's not stealing, because you didn't do anything. If you feel stealing from it, who is to blame?
If it happens.. Take it, dont worry, its legal. Wink

And in the blockchain system, i think it will not happen, because total of bitcoin addresses it's a lot.

Sarthak

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Quote

Is stealing Bitcoin illegal?

While I read the topic, I was like 'wtf did I just read Huh

'.

Maybe you should make the topic a bit more clear?

Well, if you generate an address and some coins were already there and you use those coins, then it's illegal.

Let's make this even more simple.
Suppose, you generate a private key and somehow it turns out to be the private key of a very large exchange. You transfer those coins to your address. Then the exchange announces that it got hacked and will take legal steps against you. So there you have it, it's illegal

RobinHoodster

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Stealing stays stealing no matter what you steal if it is not yours and you take it then it is stealing which is illegal even tho it is about the Bitcoin.
Do not steal because it is not a good thing you are never going to know that person feel unless somebody steels from you.

Xester

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Quote from: Alanay on July 16, 2016, 05:32:05 PM

Let's say I generate a new address and by some miracle it has Bitcoin already in it belonging to somebody else. Is it legal to just take it? I understand those odds are very low, no need to lecture me, I'm just interested.

Stealing bitcoins is illegal. Since stealing is considered illegal.
But what you are saying is not stealing since you did not take it from someone it just an accident and also you don't know who owns or how it went there.
Lastly it is impossible to happen and can never occur since there are no duplication of wallets

qiman

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I would consider stealing of any kind illegal because stealing is stealing, but say you find a 5 dollar note on the ground and you have no clue who it belongs to then that is a grey area, but with bitcoin there must be a transaction i.d so the amount must be traceable to the owner, that's what I would think anyway.

dihari

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If you stealing bitcoin in a country where bitcoin is illegal to use, that's not illegal. It is legal because that country doesn't have responsibility with the crime that can't be prove.

But maybe it is an immoral attitude.

justspare

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Quote from: ImHacked on July 16, 2016, 05:38:30 PM

Any stealing act for anything to anyone is still illegal wether it is online pr not.All stealing avt is considered a crime as long as you dont have permissions of the real owner

Yeah exactly. Stealing in any form is illegal. That is really common sense so I thought that you would know that. You would be very hard to track down though, so you shouldn't really be worried as it also has a very low chance of occurring.

Adriandmen

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Quote from: realm on July 20, 2016, 04:36:33 AM

Quote from: Adriandmen on July 17, 2016, 05:32:17 PM

Quote from: realm on July 17, 2016, 04:14:19 PM

As long as bitcoin is not regulated , no it is not illegal. However it is highly unethical and I wouldn't do it! Furthermore , what if in the future there are some kind of bitcoin laws and they are able to track the address back to you? Would you take that risk? If this happened to me I would definitely destroy the address and the seed that I created, I don't think it's worth my freedom and dignity. A steal is always a steal.

Okay, how about the following situation. You stumble upon a wallet that has 50 BTC in it and hasn't been used for years, forgotten. Would you still destroy the seed?

Theoretically yes, but to be honest I don't really know. That much money can change your life. My choice would mostly depend of my life's quality by that time. An other parameter you have to think about, is the harm you would do to bitcoin itself and therefore to your own money. If the amount we are talking about is big and the news get known, it could be a big hit to bitcoin.

Just a fun fact, a lot of the wallets in the beginning of the bitcoin have ~50 BTC and aren't used for years.

This is an example: https://blockchain.info/address/15yN7NPEpu82sHhB6TzCW5z5aXoamiKeGy.

realm

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Quote from: Adriandmen on July 17, 2016, 05:32:17 PM

Quote from: realm on July 17, 2016, 04:14:19 PM

As long as bitcoin is not regulated , no it is not illegal. However it is highly unethical and I wouldn't do it! Furthermore , what if in the future there are some kind of bitcoin laws and they are able to track the address back to you? Would you take that risk? If this happened to me I would definitely destroy the address and the seed that I created, I don't think it's worth my freedom and dignity. A steal is always a steal.

Okay, how about the following situation. You stumble upon a wallet that has 50 BTC in it and hasn't been used for years, forgotten. Would you still destroy the seed?

Theoretically yes, but to be honest I don't really know. That much money can change your life. My choice would mostly depend of my life's quality by that time. An other parameter you have to think about, is the harm you would do to bitcoin itself and therefore to your own money. If the amount we are talking about is big and the news get known, it could be a big hit to bitcoin.

GamingOn

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Quote from: Betwrong on July 20, 2016, 02:56:32 AM

Quote from: Alanay on July 16, 2016, 05:32:05 PM

Let's say I generate a new address and by some miracle it has Bitcoin already in it belonging to somebody else. Is it legal to just take it? I understand those odds are very low, no need to lecture me, I'm just interested.

Well, the probability of that happening would be close to transformation of your clothes in the washing machine into packs of US Dollars. Is that a forgery of bank bills? I don't know, it's better to consult a lawyer.

One of these scenarios is impossible one is (very) unlikely. Don't think this is a good example of it. I think a better way of putting it would be you woke up and found a bunch of money in your washing machine and then got struck by lightning the same day. Very very unlikely, lol.

Betwrong

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Quote from: Alanay on July 16, 2016, 05:32:05 PM

Let's say I generate a new address and by some miracle it has Bitcoin already in it belonging to somebody else. Is it legal to just take it? I understand those odds are very low, no need to lecture me, I'm just interested.

Well, the probability of that happening would be close to transformation of your clothes in the washing machine into packs of US Dollars. Is that a forgery of bank bills? I don't know, it's better to consult a lawyer.

katrimans

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Quote from: wintermeasures on July 17, 2016, 09:24:56 AM

Yes it is illegal as to steal Bitcoin you have to hack someone's wallet and we know that hacking is illegal world wide....

Well you probably didn't even read OP's post.
He was saying that if he generated an address and it overlapped with an existing one with some coins address's private-kep in it and he was asking if it would be illegal to steal them. Never did he mention about hacking into a bitcoin wallet or anything similar to that.

PokemonFun

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Just be careful and dont login to your bitcoin wallet site when somebody send you link because it dan be philishing link to stole email,username and password.One user from facebook was trying to send me facebook link where I need to write Username and password to open that site but in useename I was just writed You are stupid hacker and in password I was write eatmyshitasshole and after that I clicked next and I saw site with ads and nowhere buttom where I can singup so he was provably stupid hacker or I was too clever facebook user.

PeRo

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Of course, Bitcoin stealing is ilegal, it is the same as stealing fiat currency, stealing is stealing, no matterr what are you stealing.
But luckily, it is pretty much impossible and very hard to do, only if someone exploits your computer and gains access to your files and make administrator permissions for himself to find your private keys and steal your Bitcoins.

PokemonFun

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I dont know why if somebody was send money in bitcoin cryptocurrency to wrong adress, like example to ms adress and if I take that money then it is not stealling money and it is not illegal that is then mystake from that persok which sended that money becase he isnt careful enought.Same example is sokebody lost money in street and then that money dont belong to nobody so how later he can prove that thag money is their money?

takingthis4

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Quote from: abugseuf on July 18, 2016, 02:21:03 PM

Quote from: sishendaoye on July 18, 2016, 11:27:35 AM

Yeah you the topics says it already, stealing Bitcoin is illegal because it does not belong to you when you are stealing it.
But because it is online and Bitcoin is anonymous I am not sure if they are able to prevent it.

i think stealing of every thing is illegal. but if you got it by chance then certainly it is not your fault but still you have to return it if you know the owner of the bitcoin who sent it by fault.

of course without any doubts stealing anything is illegal, it is just wrong to take something that is not yours without the persons permission, in my opinion you should never steal bitcoins

bestluck

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Quote from: wedatin on July 19, 2016, 01:04:33 PM

Quote from: Ewinsane on July 19, 2016, 12:40:41 PM

yes stealing of bitcoin is illegal , stealing of everything is illegal money , bitcoin , property etc .

But according to some Ethereum trolls, stealing the DAO due to a back door is not illegal. So I am confused.

Actually stealing mean, you get someone else assets, property etc without his/her permission, and with that you harm him, so it is not allowed in any rule, Law or Religion.

wedatin

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Quote from: Ewinsane on July 19, 2016, 12:40:41 PM

yes stealing of bitcoin is illegal , stealing of everything is illegal money , bitcoin , property etc .

But according to some Ethereum trolls, stealing the DAO due to a back door is not illegal. So I am confused.

Ewinsane

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yes stealing of bitcoin is illegal , stealing of everything is illegal money , bitcoin , property etc .

serjent05

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Quote from: Maesters1- on July 19, 2016, 10:35:24 AM

Quote from: phreaky on July 19, 2016, 09:33:36 AM

Of stealing Bitcoin is illegal because you are stealing that means that it does not belong to you to it is illegal if you do it.
The thing is that most people can get away with it which is a real problem if you ask me.

yes that is a fact stealing of anything is illegal either it is bitcon or bitcoin wallet or some thing else but we will consider it as a stealing in real life. so it s morally not good to steal.

If there is no regulation about cyber crimes, basically you can't be sued with stealing online. Further thinking on this case, this isn't stealing because you don't do anything but a coincident that the address you created already have bitcoin in it. But morally, it is still debatable since first,, you don't know who is the owner of the coin. Second, you dont do anything nor intention to steal someones bitcoin. Then third if it is not encrypted with password, then I can say this maybe a gift Cheesy

so you can use it anytime.

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