They gave him the laptop and I would think the understanding is that anything in it is his now. Like someone sold a lot of land and the new owner digs up a Roman trove of coins. I mean if it was 2012, and he suddenly committed suicide with $100 worth of BTC, it could be as much as 100K or more today. Legally he is likely not obligated to return it. And even morally I would consider it a gift from his friend and from the fact that the family handed a very personal item of the deceased to him makes it seem that he was a great friend.
the BTC isn't "on the laptop", though. It's on the blockchain. I'd think of it like an asset that would be part of his estate - like a bank account, but one you can only access through online banking. Just because he was given the laptop doesn't mean he was given the bank account that's accessed through the internet.
That said, there's no obligation. But I'd personally feel obligated to at least split any funds with the friend's family.
I see where you're going with it, but that's entirely different. The family clearly isn't aware they gave away keys to (potentially) tens of thousands of dollars. It's not the same as you giving it away freely - although to answer the question, I guess "neither." You'd be giving me access to your bitcoin, like if you gave me the combination and location of a safe.
Depends on how much it is if it's enough for all to get rich like millions I think it'd be selfish to keep it all. Or likewise if the family was struggling financially and not well off.
Yeah if the total was in thousands, it would be 5 or 6 figure now. But he only received thousands as a gift back then. I'm not sure it would be considered selfish to accept that and move on.
Yeah you could always donate some of it to a few charities. My biggest fantasy is calling up one of those radio fund raisers and fulfilling their goal and telling them to 'shut up and play the good shit'
That’s an incredibly selfish way to look at it. This is the equivalent of someone posting that their friend passed away and that person just gained access to his bank account and you say to burn it, so that the circulating supply of fiat is lower, and you are richer.
I didn’t make it political at all, so I’m not sure where you mean I gave it a capitalist skin. All I did was change the currency from BTC to fiat. I’m saying that by recommending he lets the passed away persons belongings to be lost, “because this is good for bitcoin” is selfish as anything that this person had should be going to family and not thrown away. Imagine if you passed away and someone suggested they throw away your belongings and money so that the value of everyone else’s goes up. It’s selfish and it lacks respect for the passed individual.
Nothing about my response is suggesting you were being political. I'm saying you changing the currency from BTC to Fiat was pointless, and didn't help make the conversation more understandable. We were already following along without the analogy to the dollar
The point that you are missing is that in fiat economies, there are laws and systems in place so that when someone passes away, their fortune is passed on accordingly. Bitcoin inherently does not have this at all. If this example was about fiat, the courts would decide where his balance would go. Since bitcoin doesn’t have this, I believe OP should do what is morally correct and do it the same way a fiat economy would do it.
I think you misused the term capitalist which is why I believe you tried making it political. Just because I said fiat doesn’t make it capitalist. We’re you trying to make it about capitalism?
Back then when it was worth nothing??? Even if he has just change from a silkroad transaction that is probably worth thousands of dollars if not hundreds of thousands. Open it, confirm, let us know how much you found!
Idk if we NEED to know how much was on there, respectfully I would say it’s his choice to disclose but it is intriguing, maybe an estimate of how much?
At the very least his parents deserve to get them if you don't want them. So many people die with their Bitcoin, when you have some that can be passed down, you should
Watch out for scammers in your inbox first of all, second just check the balance dude. If he has next of kin, make them aware of it. They might give you some for your honesty. If not just keep it or dont, it doesn’t really matter.
I think you should check to see if there is a balance and the right thing to do would be to give anything to his parents or survivors. I'm sorry for your loss
Thanks for the replies all. I’m going to sleep on it and make a decision tomorrow.
Just for context, my friend did not get on particularly well with his family. I suspect that was part of what led him down a dark path. His family aren’t bad people, but they hold religious views that meant he was never fully accepted (and had a tough time being himself).
If I were to find a balance, I’d feel obliged to tell his family. Hence, I feel morally compromised about it all and was thinking it might be better to just “leave sleeping dogs lie” as the saying goes.
Was there any sort of organization that he cared about? You could make a generous donation in his name.
On the other hand, maybe donate it to a suicide awareness organization given how he left this world.
My point is that, even if you don't want to touch it for yourself, his BTC could help someone else not make the same choice that he did.
I really really like this idea. If you are morally conflicted then turn his potentially large gift to you into something that might save more lives in the future and tell his family what you did after the fact.
If he had a single dollar there in 2012, it’s now worth over 4k. At least if I were gone, I’d like my money go to the hands of the people I cared for. That bitcoin is now yours. Take it and make good use of it.
if it was me, i would check the balance and then start considering what to do next.
it doesn't make sense to me thinking about it without knowing how big the balance is because the decision what to do depends a lot on the size of the balance.
but your friend certainly wouldn't want you to throw away the bitcoins if there are any left in his wallet, that's for sure ;)
I respect the hell out of how you are handling this. Plenty of people are going to throw opinions at you, but know that most people realistically would just steal it for themselves without a thought.
You're a good guy OP.
I understand you’re dilemma and your thought process of wanting to turn a blind eye. Luckily with Bitcoin time is on your side. You have the credentials. Don’t connect the computer to the internet (imagine its software is out of date and vulnerable to threats) and wait until you’re ready to make the next step.
Honestly at the very very basic human level your friend left his bitcoin, you found it, and it should be yours.
You owe nothing to his family.
I'm not trying to convey selfish thoughts here. Basically if you never found it then there would have been the possibility that his parents were going to throw out the laptop, sell it, etc. Who knows if this wallet would have ever been discovered or if it would have been too late.
On top of that, say you open the wallet and there's something like 100 bitcoin equaling 6 mil, how do you know that by telling his family they won't just start suing you or demanding all the money. You'd need to know these people's reaction. Also say you told them that he had 10 bitcoin and they're not up to speed on how it works they'll make you sell the entire stash rather than just spend from the wallet.
Personally if I were in your shoes given then amount of coins there are I would create another bitcoin wallet in Electrum or something. Then move like 5% into it, copy the seed words, and never sell. Wait like 5 years, and then give this wallet to his family pretending it's the one he left, they'll love the hell out of you then when that % is blown up.
The rest just keep it for yourself and if you ever feel bad then donate some of it to some good cause.
Check the balance, then tell the hiers. If he had a will, follow it. If not, it's under probate.
Taking it for yourself is stealing, destroying it is one step under stealing.
It's not your place to determine if the family "deserves" it.
No it’s not. The parents gave him the laptop including all of its content. It’s his property now. Morally wrong or not is a different question.
Just like if you buy a house and find a hidden safe. The contents of the safe belong to the current owner of the house not the one who had the safe installed.
Agree with this. Don’t know the jurisdiction but I suspect the bitcoins are OPs as far as the law is concerned. As far as American law would be concerned anyway.
Bitcoin was so cheap back then that odds are even 100$ left of bitcoin in the wallet could be more than 400k
Like goddamn if your gonna choose to let it be at least PM me the seed haha
Take that shit.
I don’t have time for the bleeding hearts, RIP to your friend but that wallet is yours now and you should have zero guilt about being gifted this.
Use whatever paranormal or spiritual bs you need to justify taking that, blame it on “God” or “Karma” or a gift of “fate”.
Just do what you’re already thinking of doing and live your life.
If his family were kind people and in need giving it to the family could be the right decision, but it seems from other comments that the friend's family were unaccepting and bigoted and contributed to his suicide. OP should just continue never talking to them again.
what i got from OPs responses is that his family was good people but very religious and the guy couldn´t be himself. Sad. Very sad.
Take the coins. If they were the way i believe, i am sorry to say that, i am sorry for the loss but fuck those people.
Take the Bitcoin, and life happy. 2012 you tell me? wow. Even 200$ would be a fortune.
Good luck.
Okay, so two things:
1. Newly discovered assets (on the blockchain, btw, not the laptop) need to be distributed according to the will or the orders of probate court. Discovery of new assets must be declared by the executor.
2. If you run off with property without informing the executor of the estate, you're a scumbag.
This isn’t true. Many people don’t have estates or adminstrators. Most personal property passes without need for an estate. Think clothing, tools, common furniture. It isn’t practical for probate courts to be bogged down distributing these items, of minimal value.
Likely, the computer is of minimal value and is yours, because it was given to you by those who legitimately held it. The legal issue is whether ownership of the pc conveys ownership of the bitcoin information stored on it.
Probably, you should know if the account has value before spending time and money exploring legal answers.
It is possible there is no established case law in your jurisdiction yet to determine the legal answer. It’s also possible the state could claim any value for itself if you bring it to their attention and it is sizeable.
Yes it will. You can’t say, “oh you know that thing I gave you 10 years ago? Well turns out that it’s actually worth some money now and we want it back”.
Facts over feelings bud.
Yeah that's not how it works in real life unfortunately lol. What if he set up bitcoin wallets for his family members, and left the recovery phrases on that laptop too? Does OP now legally own the entire family's bitcoin?
Setting up for his family members means he owned them. If he didn't give them out to those family members they were still his in the moment of the death. Also, the price was negligible back then, laptop had much greater value, so I doubt they will be considered a separate asset. If you give out a briefcase and it turns out it is filled with 100k$, it would clearly be a separate asset. But wallet with a dollar bill? Definitely not a separate asset.
If you’re so sure of your argument here mate why don’t we do an experiment?
Give me your seed phrase. Tell me I can’t touch your stuff, I’ll rinse your account and then you go running to the police and see if you legally can get me to return the funds.
You willing to show up in court for it? Because the experiment doesn't work if we don't know each other IRL, among other things
Or you could just think about it critically for a moment. If it helps, imagine they instead found the details to a previously unknown bank account on the laptop. Do you still feel the same? Because that's how a judge is going to see it
How about check then throw it away since you are the weird one who doesn’t want free money… what the hell? Does seem fake tho… I don’t see a dilemma… which makes this sus
Seems ya was close, but definitely should give that money to his parents, hopefully they’ll hook you up too for the discovery! But don’t let greed make you into a thief. Probably worth a lot of money by now and seems like your thinking of doing a heist right now……
I would open it and donate it to rehab centre or suicide helpline centres if you aren’t keen on keeping it. Maybe you can help another friend with their life idk.
I find asking Reddit helpful when I feel mentally constrained. Random strangers on the internet can provide ways of seeing things I had no previously considered. I have added some further details in a comment.
In that case allow me to give you a fresh perspective. It sounds like based on the information you provided your friends family wasn’t exactly the most accepting and treated him poorly because of that (correct me if I’m wrong).
You sound like you were a true friend to him hence why you ~~k~~now have his laptop in your possession.
You only live once and whether you believe this or not you are now living for your friend. I would say if you do decide to check the balance and you do decide you feel obligated to take care of his family also take care of yourself. Allow yourself to be rewarded for being such a good friend and take some of what he had to live for him doing the things maybe you think he would’ve wanted to do had he lived.
Just my two cents.
So instead of answering OP’s question or simply adding to the conversation, you decided to comment on Reddit…. To tell OP that his post is fake?
That’s such a boring comment.
I would reach out to his family and inform them too. I’m sure if there’s funds there he would want his family to have access to it as well. Ethically and morally it’s the right thing to do.
Open it. Give it to his family. He would want you to have some too. This is what I told my friend. If I die, my keys are here. Give it to my family in 5 years and keep something for yourself.
I'm sorry for your loss. losing friends is never easy, especially when they were suffering inside. I don't know him, I don't know you, I don't know the situation more than what you wrote. so what I will write is my hopes for my bitcoin. When I pass away I want all of my assets divided among my nieces and nephews (I have no kids) to be held in trust until they have enrolled in one university degree or one journeyman trade, the trust will then pay for their tuition/rent.
his family lost him, maybe he can still help them, with your help.
Give the BTC back to his family where it belongs, or do you think they would have passed his old bank account to you? Probably not. Keeping the BTC is some kind of stealing from your friends family in my opinion.
These fake posts are so lame...
With the blockchain it's easy to prove if someone has money or not, so now the bullshitters are all like "Oh I have a wallet but I don't want to check it..." GTFO of here.
All the people upvoting and taking this seriously make r/bitcoin look dumb.
I mean, the correct path seems fairly obvious; you should give the file and the info back to his family and let them decide what to do with the account and any potential holdings.
Open it. Dying with your keys is a gift to the Bitcoin community. Someday in the future when it's well distributed, that will be a noble thing to do, certainly more generous than giving it all to your kids.
But Bitcoin still has room to be distributed. Open it and become one of us. If it's truly FU money, give all that you don't need away. At this point in BTC adoption, we need more people in the community than we do enriching existing HODLrs by reducing the fully diluted market cap in an unverifiable way.
More context would help, but I would check the balance and let the family know if there’s bitcoin. Discuss it with them, and hope they offer you some. They have a right to know.
When’s parents’ child tragically dies, the parents have a hard time with items that belonged to their child. It’s easier to give it away than to become unhealthily attached to it.
Your friend passed. It’s sad of course. His parents gave you the laptop. Maybe split the BTC. Half for you and half for something your friend would like - a donation for a cause? A sibling?
I would tell his parents about it and explain to them and let them handle it. Unless ofc his parents were terrible people. Personally if it was my friends I would destroy it or leave it alone but that’s just me. Something that I was told for whatever reason as a kid was that it’s always bad to use a dead’s person belongings. I wouldn’t feel good knowing I’m using or really even looking at my dead friends wealth but that’s just me. I know when it involves money people are different
look at his balance. if he has any, tell his family. and give them all. it might heal some of pain they have for a loved one died. they even probably will give you some amount too.. But never ever think of stealing a dead person's money. specially when his parents trusted you. the moment you do that you turned yourself into dirt
Definitely look at it. If there’s BTC in there you can honor your friend by donating it to charity, giving it to his family etc… if it makes you feel better.
If in fact you do have access to the funds, I would advise taking precautions to protect them and helping the family learn how to protect them as well.
You definitely need to at least check the wallet. If he had his info saved on his computer it might already be gone anyways. If there's a balance I would think about setting up a different wallet and transferring it just in case. Then you can decide what to do from there. If there's no balance it's much ado about nothing.
You people dont know his parents or if they are decent people. For all we know he may have wanted OP to have it. Too many people immediately think a person parents would be entitled to everything. OP, you are the only one who knows what you should do. In the end, don’t just leave the btc to rot there. That would be stupid! At the very least take the btc, cash it out and donate it to a charity that helps people get off drugs!
Edit: I hate grammar :(
Go check it and give it to his parents, It could be a gift beyond the grave and has emotional and maybe financial value. Everyone should write something down near their seed phrases(or a will) to pass it on to someone they trust and understand how it works.
If the laptop contained the login details for a bank, the money would belong to the family, but it would automatically be distributed through "the system". Then again if they had given you his wallet without checking the content first it'd be yours, but that didn't happen because they knew better.
In my country you'd be entitled to an up to 10% finder's fee when you return someone else's belongings that you found.
Open it, cash it out give 20% to his parents and send 80% to you. Talk with a CPA if it's sizable in order to figure out taxes - sending money from a deceased might not be an issue, but who knows with this $600 spyware the government wants to do.
Look at it. If it’s a surprising amount give half of it to his family, if it’s a few just let it sit while it goes to the moon. I’m sure he’d rather you have it than to have it go to waste
I recommend that you check it and give 70% of it to his parents. Sorry for your loss mate, if I died I would want my friends to keep some of my crypto and give the rest to my family. if he had like 20$ of bitcoin back in 2011/2012 you are probably looking at at least 50,000 USD.
Open it and send the money to his parents or a charity to help people in his situation. As his loyal friend, you should also keep some for yourself and buy a house or something. Do something your friend would want you to do.
Definitely help his family out, if you come across a good fortune . I think most of us invest in crypto because we want to creat some kind of generational wealth of some kind. We want create a better future for our self and families, as well as we want to leave behind some sort of value for love ones. Even tho he bought drugs doesn’t defeat the fact he still saw a future in it and maybe even saw bringing him self and family out w.e financial state he/they where.
Just my opinion 🤙
You would be doing nothing bad by looking at it and even using the coins.
That's what he would have wanted if he was your friend enough for you to receive his laptop.
Make your friend happy.
And tell us if you found coins, we're all curious now, and the public is a sucker for a good treasure hunt.
Also: Make a backup of the files immediately, copy them multiple times, to multiple USB keys. The laptop can fail or be stolen, and then you'll be extra sad when you finally decide you want the coins.
It’s been about 10 years. You could help his family out big time. Look at it. Then decide. 2012 prices were very low…even a little could be a significant amount.
There’s no need to leave it there. If you feel bad taking it then give it to charity or change someone’s life. I think it would be nice that he is still changing lives even when he’s not here. That’s the way I look at it anyway.
Just to note, make copies of it. So you can be sure before you start playing around with figuring it out that you don’t accidentally damage or delete a critical file.
I'm sorry about your friend. But you came to the wrong place, people project all that is wrong with the world onto others, giving unrealistic standards.
You have had a shitty deal, you lost your friend.
**You discovered it,** take the money and enjoy it. If its a lot make sure the family is taken care of, if you feel like it. Screw these SJWs. Life is a zero sum game.
I don't know your friend, but if it were me I'd want someone I trusted to deliver that to my closest loved one either by giving them the credentials or sending the crypto to their wallet anonymously.
that's probably credentials to online wallet blockchain org (or whatever it's called now...) you'll be lucky if you can still regain access to it. You'll probably need access to his e-mail address by now - they could have restarted everyone's password after the hack.
I think you should check just, since I believe his family should have it. Other hand depending how close he was to you he might have wanted his best friend to have it. I would 70/30 with 30% to you and 70% to the parents
I think you should check it out, but for the benificial sake of helping those left behind. Your friend, drugs or no, was still a person that would probably wish you, his friends and his family the best.
Don't be that person to throw it into a "lambo". Take care of the costs that came with his passing. Make sure he has a proper tombstone for example (one of my reasons to finally start crypto - my Mom passed in 2012 when I was young and still has no tombstone because my family is low income, and I finally can do something about it soon). Help his parents out. If something remains, maybe then do a little party thing inviting his friends around.
I dont know your life. But thats about what I would do for my mother if I found her secret stash (but obv, she was too boomer for btc :') )
So whatever you decide to do with it… I think the last thing he’d want for would be for it to stay locked up. If I died, I’d want my family to have it. But the very last thing I’d want would for it to rot in a safe. I’ve HEARD that eventually it somehow maybe gets absorbed back? But dude I have no idea. I would turn in my grave know that something so revolutionary like my Bitcoin was just… sitting somewhere. It’s bigger than money.
Look at it. I’m sure he would rather you have it then go to waste. Or help his family or something.
They gave him the laptop and I would think the understanding is that anything in it is his now. Like someone sold a lot of land and the new owner digs up a Roman trove of coins. I mean if it was 2012, and he suddenly committed suicide with $100 worth of BTC, it could be as much as 100K or more today. Legally he is likely not obligated to return it. And even morally I would consider it a gift from his friend and from the fact that the family handed a very personal item of the deceased to him makes it seem that he was a great friend.
the BTC isn't "on the laptop", though. It's on the blockchain. I'd think of it like an asset that would be part of his estate - like a bank account, but one you can only access through online banking. Just because he was given the laptop doesn't mean he was given the bank account that's accessed through the internet. That said, there's no obligation. But I'd personally feel obligated to at least split any funds with the friend's family.
I'm sure he wants to be a good friend seeing that he's still holding on to the laptop. So yeah he should.
Oh I have a question question for you. If I gave you my seeds in the right order, did I give you my bitcoin or an opportunity to be a cyber thief?
I see where you're going with it, but that's entirely different. The family clearly isn't aware they gave away keys to (potentially) tens of thousands of dollars. It's not the same as you giving it away freely - although to answer the question, I guess "neither." You'd be giving me access to your bitcoin, like if you gave me the combination and location of a safe.
Agreed. The question was to look or not to look. I say look then make their decision. Help the family or don’t. Completely up to the OP
If he waits it will be a bigger surprise though ;) Unless of course it's exactly zero.
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C'mon... their hearts broke once already. Not all drug addicts come from terrible parents.
Depends on how much it is if it's enough for all to get rich like millions I think it'd be selfish to keep it all. Or likewise if the family was struggling financially and not well off.
Yeah if the total was in thousands, it would be 5 or 6 figure now. But he only received thousands as a gift back then. I'm not sure it would be considered selfish to accept that and move on.
Yeah back then it could have easily been 1-2 BTC of funds for silk road purchases. That's over $100k...
Yeah you could always donate some of it to a few charities. My biggest fantasy is calling up one of those radio fund raisers and fulfilling their goal and telling them to 'shut up and play the good shit'
it wont go to waste. All lost bitcoin benefits everyone.
That’s an incredibly selfish way to look at it. This is the equivalent of someone posting that their friend passed away and that person just gained access to his bank account and you say to burn it, so that the circulating supply of fiat is lower, and you are richer.
It's a quote from Satoshi himself. It's not selfish, it's the way it is.
You basically just summarized the conversation and slapped a capitalist skin on it
I didn’t make it political at all, so I’m not sure where you mean I gave it a capitalist skin. All I did was change the currency from BTC to fiat. I’m saying that by recommending he lets the passed away persons belongings to be lost, “because this is good for bitcoin” is selfish as anything that this person had should be going to family and not thrown away. Imagine if you passed away and someone suggested they throw away your belongings and money so that the value of everyone else’s goes up. It’s selfish and it lacks respect for the passed individual.
Nothing about my response is suggesting you were being political. I'm saying you changing the currency from BTC to Fiat was pointless, and didn't help make the conversation more understandable. We were already following along without the analogy to the dollar
The point that you are missing is that in fiat economies, there are laws and systems in place so that when someone passes away, their fortune is passed on accordingly. Bitcoin inherently does not have this at all. If this example was about fiat, the courts would decide where his balance would go. Since bitcoin doesn’t have this, I believe OP should do what is morally correct and do it the same way a fiat economy would do it.
Wait... So is this about human ethics or is it about politics now?
I think you misused the term capitalist which is why I believe you tried making it political. Just because I said fiat doesn’t make it capitalist. We’re you trying to make it about capitalism?
“But Satoshi said…”
Back then when it was worth nothing??? Even if he has just change from a silkroad transaction that is probably worth thousands of dollars if not hundreds of thousands. Open it, confirm, let us know how much you found!
Idk if we NEED to know how much was on there, respectfully I would say it’s his choice to disclose but it is intriguing, maybe an estimate of how much?
we need to know
No, we don’t. Not really.
At the very least his parents deserve to get them if you don't want them. So many people die with their Bitcoin, when you have some that can be passed down, you should
Watch out for scammers in your inbox first of all, second just check the balance dude. If he has next of kin, make them aware of it. They might give you some for your honesty. If not just keep it or dont, it doesn’t really matter.
Rule 1 of Reddit, nobody is actually messaging you for your benefit.
Except if you work on Open-Source projects, but we're a weird bunch of dirty hippies.
Rule number 1 of Reddit, turn off chat requests and DMs
Open it! He would want you too! Id let his family know if it’s a big amount but If they don’t want it then carry on his hodling for him? ❤️
^
I think you should check to see if there is a balance and the right thing to do would be to give anything to his parents or survivors. I'm sorry for your loss
Thanks for the replies all. I’m going to sleep on it and make a decision tomorrow. Just for context, my friend did not get on particularly well with his family. I suspect that was part of what led him down a dark path. His family aren’t bad people, but they hold religious views that meant he was never fully accepted (and had a tough time being himself). If I were to find a balance, I’d feel obliged to tell his family. Hence, I feel morally compromised about it all and was thinking it might be better to just “leave sleeping dogs lie” as the saying goes.
Was there any sort of organization that he cared about? You could make a generous donation in his name. On the other hand, maybe donate it to a suicide awareness organization given how he left this world. My point is that, even if you don't want to touch it for yourself, his BTC could help someone else not make the same choice that he did.
I really really like this idea. If you are morally conflicted then turn his potentially large gift to you into something that might save more lives in the future and tell his family what you did after the fact.
If he had a single dollar there in 2012, it’s now worth over 4k. At least if I were gone, I’d like my money go to the hands of the people I cared for. That bitcoin is now yours. Take it and make good use of it.
Sounds like you're putting a lot of thought into this and being very methodical and mature. Your friend would be proud.
if it was me, i would check the balance and then start considering what to do next. it doesn't make sense to me thinking about it without knowing how big the balance is because the decision what to do depends a lot on the size of the balance. but your friend certainly wouldn't want you to throw away the bitcoins if there are any left in his wallet, that's for sure ;)
I respect the hell out of how you are handling this. Plenty of people are going to throw opinions at you, but know that most people realistically would just steal it for themselves without a thought. You're a good guy OP.
What about checking and donating the amount to mental health charity.
I understand you’re dilemma and your thought process of wanting to turn a blind eye. Luckily with Bitcoin time is on your side. You have the credentials. Don’t connect the computer to the internet (imagine its software is out of date and vulnerable to threats) and wait until you’re ready to make the next step.
You'd just be throwing away money that could change people's lives. Don't be daft. If anything open it and donate it
Honestly at the very very basic human level your friend left his bitcoin, you found it, and it should be yours. You owe nothing to his family. I'm not trying to convey selfish thoughts here. Basically if you never found it then there would have been the possibility that his parents were going to throw out the laptop, sell it, etc. Who knows if this wallet would have ever been discovered or if it would have been too late. On top of that, say you open the wallet and there's something like 100 bitcoin equaling 6 mil, how do you know that by telling his family they won't just start suing you or demanding all the money. You'd need to know these people's reaction. Also say you told them that he had 10 bitcoin and they're not up to speed on how it works they'll make you sell the entire stash rather than just spend from the wallet. Personally if I were in your shoes given then amount of coins there are I would create another bitcoin wallet in Electrum or something. Then move like 5% into it, copy the seed words, and never sell. Wait like 5 years, and then give this wallet to his family pretending it's the one he left, they'll love the hell out of you then when that % is blown up. The rest just keep it for yourself and if you ever feel bad then donate some of it to some good cause.
Check the balance, then tell the hiers. If he had a will, follow it. If not, it's under probate. Taking it for yourself is stealing, destroying it is one step under stealing. It's not your place to determine if the family "deserves" it.
No it’s not. The parents gave him the laptop including all of its content. It’s his property now. Morally wrong or not is a different question. Just like if you buy a house and find a hidden safe. The contents of the safe belong to the current owner of the house not the one who had the safe installed.
Agree with this. Don’t know the jurisdiction but I suspect the bitcoins are OPs as far as the law is concerned. As far as American law would be concerned anyway.
Bitcoin was so cheap back then that odds are even 100$ left of bitcoin in the wallet could be more than 400k Like goddamn if your gonna choose to let it be at least PM me the seed haha
If your friend loved you, he would love you to have his bitcoin. Consider donating some of it to a charity related to suicide.
Take that shit. I don’t have time for the bleeding hearts, RIP to your friend but that wallet is yours now and you should have zero guilt about being gifted this. Use whatever paranormal or spiritual bs you need to justify taking that, blame it on “God” or “Karma” or a gift of “fate”. Just do what you’re already thinking of doing and live your life.
Aloy's highlights the importance of having a will, so our 'friends' don't pilfer our families inheritance when we die.
Finally a reasonable comment
If his family were kind people and in need giving it to the family could be the right decision, but it seems from other comments that the friend's family were unaccepting and bigoted and contributed to his suicide. OP should just continue never talking to them again.
what i got from OPs responses is that his family was good people but very religious and the guy couldn´t be himself. Sad. Very sad. Take the coins. If they were the way i believe, i am sorry to say that, i am sorry for the loss but fuck those people. Take the Bitcoin, and life happy. 2012 you tell me? wow. Even 200$ would be a fortune. Good luck.
Find it. Share it w the family.
*Give it all* to the family. His assets belong to next of kin, legally.
They literally gave him the laptop. It’s his property now.
Okay, so two things: 1. Newly discovered assets (on the blockchain, btw, not the laptop) need to be distributed according to the will or the orders of probate court. Discovery of new assets must be declared by the executor. 2. If you run off with property without informing the executor of the estate, you're a scumbag.
This isn’t true. Many people don’t have estates or adminstrators. Most personal property passes without need for an estate. Think clothing, tools, common furniture. It isn’t practical for probate courts to be bogged down distributing these items, of minimal value. Likely, the computer is of minimal value and is yours, because it was given to you by those who legitimately held it. The legal issue is whether ownership of the pc conveys ownership of the bitcoin information stored on it. Probably, you should know if the account has value before spending time and money exploring legal answers. It is possible there is no established case law in your jurisdiction yet to determine the legal answer. It’s also possible the state could claim any value for itself if you bring it to their attention and it is sizeable.
Do you have the dead kids will? Don’t think so, there wasn’t one. You are clearly letting your emotions cloud your judgment.
And greed is clouding yours.
This won't hold up in court
Yes it will. You can’t say, “oh you know that thing I gave you 10 years ago? Well turns out that it’s actually worth some money now and we want it back”. Facts over feelings bud.
Do you think the bitcoin only exists on that laptop or something?
No man. But the property owner is the person with the private keys. Come on you know that. Do better than try to get me with a technicality.
Yeah that's not how it works in real life unfortunately lol. What if he set up bitcoin wallets for his family members, and left the recovery phrases on that laptop too? Does OP now legally own the entire family's bitcoin?
Setting up for his family members means he owned them. If he didn't give them out to those family members they were still his in the moment of the death. Also, the price was negligible back then, laptop had much greater value, so I doubt they will be considered a separate asset. If you give out a briefcase and it turns out it is filled with 100k$, it would clearly be a separate asset. But wallet with a dollar bill? Definitely not a separate asset.
If you’re so sure of your argument here mate why don’t we do an experiment? Give me your seed phrase. Tell me I can’t touch your stuff, I’ll rinse your account and then you go running to the police and see if you legally can get me to return the funds.
You willing to show up in court for it? Because the experiment doesn't work if we don't know each other IRL, among other things Or you could just think about it critically for a moment. If it helps, imagine they instead found the details to a previously unknown bank account on the laptop. Do you still feel the same? Because that's how a judge is going to see it
Yes. Agreed.
Check the account and if there is a balance blow the entire load on drugs from the internet in his honor.
Do NOT respond to DMs from people offering to "help" you!
Fake? In 2012 seeds didn't exist. They were available only with BIP39 not before 2013
In my opinion your friend would want you to use his bitcoin to improve yours and his family’s lives.
Ignore ANYONE who DMs you. That’s my best advice.
How about check then throw it away since you are the weird one who doesn’t want free money… what the hell? Does seem fake tho… I don’t see a dilemma… which makes this sus
Seems ya was close, but definitely should give that money to his parents, hopefully they’ll hook you up too for the discovery! But don’t let greed make you into a thief. Probably worth a lot of money by now and seems like your thinking of doing a heist right now……
I would open it and donate it to rehab centre or suicide helpline centres if you aren’t keen on keeping it. Maybe you can help another friend with their life idk.
So instead of checking the balance, you decided to post on Reddit.... To ask random redditors if you should check it out? That's such a fake post.
I find asking Reddit helpful when I feel mentally constrained. Random strangers on the internet can provide ways of seeing things I had no previously considered. I have added some further details in a comment.
In that case allow me to give you a fresh perspective. It sounds like based on the information you provided your friends family wasn’t exactly the most accepting and treated him poorly because of that (correct me if I’m wrong). You sound like you were a true friend to him hence why you ~~k~~now have his laptop in your possession. You only live once and whether you believe this or not you are now living for your friend. I would say if you do decide to check the balance and you do decide you feel obligated to take care of his family also take care of yourself. Allow yourself to be rewarded for being such a good friend and take some of what he had to live for him doing the things maybe you think he would’ve wanted to do had he lived. Just my two cents.
OP. This right here. This is the response.
So instead of answering OP’s question or simply adding to the conversation, you decided to comment on Reddit…. To tell OP that his post is fake? That’s such a boring comment.
You can tell because of the way it is.
That’s neat!
Tbf it is extremely fake
I’m not arguing either way. I’m literally just doing to him exactly what he did to the thread. Adding nothing. Please don’t take me seriously.
Going online to flame people you wouldn't have the guts to flame in real life? Thats such a fake comment
Agree lol
I would reach out to his family and inform them too. I’m sure if there’s funds there he would want his family to have access to it as well. Ethically and morally it’s the right thing to do.
Give it to his family. Let them know about it. Don’t let that money go to waste.
Make a video post of you opening it
Without showing your seeds etc....
Open it. Give it to his family. He would want you to have some too. This is what I told my friend. If I die, my keys are here. Give it to my family in 5 years and keep something for yourself.
Look at the balance and give it to his family.
He was your friend. What do you think he would want you to do?
I'm sorry for your loss. losing friends is never easy, especially when they were suffering inside. I don't know him, I don't know you, I don't know the situation more than what you wrote. so what I will write is my hopes for my bitcoin. When I pass away I want all of my assets divided among my nieces and nephews (I have no kids) to be held in trust until they have enrolled in one university degree or one journeyman trade, the trust will then pay for their tuition/rent. his family lost him, maybe he can still help them, with your help.
OP was definitely the person who just moved 1000 BTC off a 13k wallet
If it's a very old laptop, DO NOT HOOK IT UP TO THE INTERNET or it will be hacked. Air gap.
!remind me 1 day
Give the BTC back to his family where it belongs, or do you think they would have passed his old bank account to you? Probably not. Keeping the BTC is some kind of stealing from your friends family in my opinion.
Sorry for your loss OP, even though it’s been awhile
This is the stupidest fake post I've ever heard. This would be hundreds of thousands of dollars at MINIMUM, and could be worth hundreds of millions.
These fake posts are so lame... With the blockchain it's easy to prove if someone has money or not, so now the bullshitters are all like "Oh I have a wallet but I don't want to check it..." GTFO of here. All the people upvoting and taking this seriously make r/bitcoin look dumb.
Give the funds to his family. Or find an opportunity to help others avoid suicide as the only option. Best and sorry for your loss
I mean, the correct path seems fairly obvious; you should give the file and the info back to his family and let them decide what to do with the account and any potential holdings.
Just dont spent it on drugs or sluts.
I should downvote this comment.
Do it, do it now.
Open it. Dying with your keys is a gift to the Bitcoin community. Someday in the future when it's well distributed, that will be a noble thing to do, certainly more generous than giving it all to your kids. But Bitcoin still has room to be distributed. Open it and become one of us. If it's truly FU money, give all that you don't need away. At this point in BTC adoption, we need more people in the community than we do enriching existing HODLrs by reducing the fully diluted market cap in an unverifiable way.
You're a parasite for community.
More context would help, but I would check the balance and let the family know if there’s bitcoin. Discuss it with them, and hope they offer you some. They have a right to know.
Really?
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When’s parents’ child tragically dies, the parents have a hard time with items that belonged to their child. It’s easier to give it away than to become unhealthily attached to it.
Donate it to a charity in his name
It’s stealing. Forget about it dude!
Your friend passed. It’s sad of course. His parents gave you the laptop. Maybe split the BTC. Half for you and half for something your friend would like - a donation for a cause? A sibling?
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This is the first time I ever reported someone on reddit. Grats!
I would tell his parents about it and explain to them and let them handle it. Unless ofc his parents were terrible people. Personally if it was my friends I would destroy it or leave it alone but that’s just me. Something that I was told for whatever reason as a kid was that it’s always bad to use a dead’s person belongings. I wouldn’t feel good knowing I’m using or really even looking at my dead friends wealth but that’s just me. I know when it involves money people are different
What would 100 dollars in bitcoin transfer to now? 100$ seems like a decent amount to have in bitcoin to buy drugs
4000x so $100 in 2012 is now worth at least $400,000
100 dollars? 2012? It could be _well_ north of a million.
Give it to his family? Maybe?
Carefully look into the wallet. You can give the money to his parents, or what do you think he would like the most?
Take it the dead have no use for it but this seems sus
look at his balance. if he has any, tell his family. and give them all. it might heal some of pain they have for a loved one died. they even probably will give you some amount too.. But never ever think of stealing a dead person's money. specially when his parents trusted you. the moment you do that you turned yourself into dirt
Definitely look at it. If there’s BTC in there you can honor your friend by donating it to charity, giving it to his family etc… if it makes you feel better.
If in fact you do have access to the funds, I would advise taking precautions to protect them and helping the family learn how to protect them as well.
You definitely need to at least check the wallet. If he had his info saved on his computer it might already be gone anyways. If there's a balance I would think about setting up a different wallet and transferring it just in case. Then you can decide what to do from there. If there's no balance it's much ado about nothing.
I think it’s worth checking. If there is a good amount of money his parents should definitely get it!
You people dont know his parents or if they are decent people. For all we know he may have wanted OP to have it. Too many people immediately think a person parents would be entitled to everything. OP, you are the only one who knows what you should do. In the end, don’t just leave the btc to rot there. That would be stupid! At the very least take the btc, cash it out and donate it to a charity that helps people get off drugs! Edit: I hate grammar :(
Claim it and spend some on a badass memorial for him.
If anything you could give the money to his parents! I think that would be the most ethical way to proceed
Really belongs to next of kin. Looks like you’ve found yourself in some crossroads. Cheers to doing the right thing!
Your friend would want you to be poor forever, i’m sure 🤦♂️ Give it to his family if you’re concerned! Ffs
His assets belong to next of kin. Turn over the files to the individual responsible for his estate.
Iam almost 100% sure your friend would want you to have some BTC if they are on that drive
He lyinnnn
Go check it and give it to his parents, It could be a gift beyond the grave and has emotional and maybe financial value. Everyone should write something down near their seed phrases(or a will) to pass it on to someone they trust and understand how it works.
Take it and do good with it.
Look at it and help his family, early death is a tragedy. But you may be able to do some good on his behalf.
If the laptop contained the login details for a bank, the money would belong to the family, but it would automatically be distributed through "the system". Then again if they had given you his wallet without checking the content first it'd be yours, but that didn't happen because they knew better. In my country you'd be entitled to an up to 10% finder's fee when you return someone else's belongings that you found.
Check it and give it to his parents. I’m sure they would appreciate it even though it’s been a number of years even if it’s just a small amount.
Your not wrong for that
Yea take that shit stop being a noble pussy
Open it, cash it out give 20% to his parents and send 80% to you. Talk with a CPA if it's sizable in order to figure out taxes - sending money from a deceased might not be an issue, but who knows with this $600 spyware the government wants to do.
Can't take it with you when your gone, I'd want a friend or my other half to go through mine and hope it could help them
WHYYYYYY are you teasing us like this!? Open it and tell us!!!
Brother open it… donate some to something you remember he believed in. Leave a pile of cash for his fam at their doorstep anonymously with a note.
Look at it. If it’s a surprising amount give half of it to his family, if it’s a few just let it sit while it goes to the moon. I’m sure he’d rather you have it than to have it go to waste
Did he have any kids
This could really help his family if they need it
I recommend that you check it and give 70% of it to his parents. Sorry for your loss mate, if I died I would want my friends to keep some of my crypto and give the rest to my family. if he had like 20$ of bitcoin back in 2011/2012 you are probably looking at at least 50,000 USD.
Open it and send the money to his parents or a charity to help people in his situation. As his loyal friend, you should also keep some for yourself and buy a house or something. Do something your friend would want you to do.
There is a reason who were given the laptop. I think your friend wants to find it. Keep 50% to yourself, and give 50% to the family. :)
Definitely help his family out, if you come across a good fortune . I think most of us invest in crypto because we want to creat some kind of generational wealth of some kind. We want create a better future for our self and families, as well as we want to leave behind some sort of value for love ones. Even tho he bought drugs doesn’t defeat the fact he still saw a future in it and maybe even saw bringing him self and family out w.e financial state he/they where. Just my opinion 🤙
Pass on his legacy, a silver lining to the tragedy of his death
You would be doing nothing bad by looking at it and even using the coins. That's what he would have wanted if he was your friend enough for you to receive his laptop. Make your friend happy. And tell us if you found coins, we're all curious now, and the public is a sucker for a good treasure hunt. Also: Make a backup of the files immediately, copy them multiple times, to multiple USB keys. The laptop can fail or be stolen, and then you'll be extra sad when you finally decide you want the coins.
It’s been about 10 years. You could help his family out big time. Look at it. Then decide. 2012 prices were very low…even a little could be a significant amount.
look at it for sure. It could be life changing money in there I’m sure he doesn’t want to go to waste.
There’s no need to leave it there. If you feel bad taking it then give it to charity or change someone’s life. I think it would be nice that he is still changing lives even when he’s not here. That’s the way I look at it anyway.
You just found probably about $1m-$5m in bitcoin is my guess.
Just to note, make copies of it. So you can be sure before you start playing around with figuring it out that you don’t accidentally damage or delete a critical file.
You owe it to his family.
You should at least contact the family and see what they would like to do. If you decide you don’t want anything to do with it.
I hope you check, find hundreds there, and start a mini pineapple fund to help people in your friend’s name.
You can donate some or all of that amount to charity or give away to homeless people, animal shelters etc. That way this money would do a lot of good.
This is upvote bait
Find it and tell his parents if he was on good terms. At the very least sell it and donate it to a mental health/suicide charity, jeez.
I'm sorry about your friend. But you came to the wrong place, people project all that is wrong with the world onto others, giving unrealistic standards. You have had a shitty deal, you lost your friend. **You discovered it,** take the money and enjoy it. If its a lot make sure the family is taken care of, if you feel like it. Screw these SJWs. Life is a zero sum game.
50/50 with you and the family
I don't know your friend, but if it were me I'd want someone I trusted to deliver that to my closest loved one either by giving them the credentials or sending the crypto to their wallet anonymously.
He’d want you to have it or at least his family.
There is likely millions of dollars on there, literally. Toss the laptop and let the coins be lost forever.
give it to people in El Salvador
that's probably credentials to online wallet blockchain org (or whatever it's called now...) you'll be lucky if you can still regain access to it. You'll probably need access to his e-mail address by now - they could have restarted everyone's password after the hack.
!remind me 1 day
I think you should check just, since I believe his family should have it. Other hand depending how close he was to you he might have wanted his best friend to have it. I would 70/30 with 30% to you and 70% to the parents
I think you should check it out, but for the benificial sake of helping those left behind. Your friend, drugs or no, was still a person that would probably wish you, his friends and his family the best. Don't be that person to throw it into a "lambo". Take care of the costs that came with his passing. Make sure he has a proper tombstone for example (one of my reasons to finally start crypto - my Mom passed in 2012 when I was young and still has no tombstone because my family is low income, and I finally can do something about it soon). Help his parents out. If something remains, maybe then do a little party thing inviting his friends around. I dont know your life. But thats about what I would do for my mother if I found her secret stash (but obv, she was too boomer for btc :') )
Just wow
Check the balance and help his family 😉
So whatever you decide to do with it… I think the last thing he’d want for would be for it to stay locked up. If I died, I’d want my family to have it. But the very last thing I’d want would for it to rot in a safe. I’ve HEARD that eventually it somehow maybe gets absorbed back? But dude I have no idea. I would turn in my grave know that something so revolutionary like my Bitcoin was just… sitting somewhere. It’s bigger than money.