 <p>In this <a href="http://mindprod.com/jgloss/hashcode.html" rel="nofollow">link</a> it says that indeed the default hash code is the JVM address of the object, but if it is moved - the address stays consistent. I don't know how reliable this source is, but I am sure that the implementors of this method thought of this scenario (which is not rare or corner case), and ensured correct functionality of this method.</p>