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I hate to break it to you, but numbers can't be property. You can't own the number 7 for example.

correct, because 7 is trivial to guess. but a 256-bit number is impossible to guess, so I do own the secret it unlocks.

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You control it, you don't own it. If someone else finds the key, they have the same control as you. Ownership is a social/legal construct, it requires the acknowledgement from other people.

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That's custodial ownership. Behave and pay taxes, and we will let you keep it. Nobody can take Bitcoin from me unless I fuck up.

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Nobody can take anything from you if you keep it completely secret. I'm just making a point about the definition of "ownership".

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You said numbers are not property, I say they can be. I keep my private keys secret and use them to exercise my ownership rights over valuable assets (sign transactions). That's ownership.

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You have no way to prove that a number is known to you exclusively. If someone gained access to "your" key and spends the coins, the Bitcoin network won't recognise your ownership, the best you can hope for is that the legal system considers you the owner.

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I totally agree with your point of view. What is really important is the secret. Obviously, as you mention, we cannot be the owners of the number that keeps our SATS. But we are the owners and responsible for keeping that secret that leads to our SATS.
Here I consider that cryptography is magic. And I understand why it is a fundamental piece of bitcoin when it comes to considering it as a vehicle to store and hoard our energy burned after work.

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You have no idea what you are talking about

I don't want to own any number as property, I just want to store my energy in the best private property there is. 🍊⚡

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Your private key is a number. I'm pretty sure you do want to own it, I'm just pointing out that you can't. The best you can hope for is to keep it secret.

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What's the point your trying to make? Bitcoin is the closest thing to true ownership - besides one's body - out there.

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I don't disagree, but I think we should be careful about language

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It's a fact that he's the only one with access to the UTXO's In question, and thus owns them.

That's the whole point of ownership: being the one with sole access and say over a given item.

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And if someone else gains access to the key you no longer own it?

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this is what you should avoid at all costs.

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Not if they take it, which they will.

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They might just hold onto the key, while you keep stacking into it. There is no way to know you have exclusive knowledge of a number.

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Yeah, because if you'd have access to someone's wallet holding 0.24 BTC, you surely would simply wait until they themselves move it, huh? Wtf.

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