Post
Topic
Board Wallet software
Merits 1 from 1 user
Re: I found a paper wallet on a beach ... seriously
by
o_e_l_e_o
on 04/08/2022, 07:43:54 UTC
⭐ Merited by Cricktor (1)
IMO it'd be better to just quietly move those coins to your own wallet (after learning a little more about bitcoin).

I doubt the cops would ever find out if you just used the funds on the wallet you found.  In crypto, it's basically finders-keepers in situations like this.
What? No. Finders keepers? So if you lost your mobile or hardware wallet on the street, you would have no problem with someone breaking in to it and emptying your wallets? How is that any different to emptying out a paper wallet you found which does not belong to you? Sure, OP is highly unlikely to get caught, but that hardly makes it morally OK.

I scanned the initially concealed QR code on my phone, entered the also concealed code and was presented with a web page with info pertaining to a btc balance of 0.6104...ish. Is this typical of how these things work? I wasn't required to enter any other info. Seems a bit too easy to me....
All you need is the address (which one of the presumably two QR codes will be encoding) and you can look that address up on any public block explorer website* to see the balance. Every transaction on bitcoin is public and can be viewed by anyone. All you need to know is the relevant address.

Make sure you do not enter the private key in to an electronic device or scan its QR code, as doing so risks the funds being stolen.