3 ms·

Perhaps waiting out the statute of limitations in their jurisdiction?

• rprasad 14y ago
  There is no SOL in most nations, as virtual goods are generally not considered property. Bitcoin is regarded as a virtual good in the U.S., so it is not possible to "steal" a bitcoin. (Note: this is a distinct concept from intellectual property -- do not confuse the issues.) In China, Korea, Singapore, and Japan, virtual goods are considered property to varying degrees. EDIT: reply to discountgenius since there was no reply link. One of the functions of government is to create laws protecting property. There aren't any laws in the U.S. that treat virtual goods such as bitcoin as property. In the U.S., at least, courts have proven extremely reluctant to extend property protections to virtual goods, i.e., MMO items, because the state of the law and underlying technology is still too much in flux. At best, virtual goods are treated as licenses. However, licenses are not property that can be stolen (and this has been litigated in non-virtual contexts). In Japan and Korea a few years ago, some courts ruled that in-game purchases were considered property for specific purposes. I do not know if their respective courts followed those cases.
  • discountgenius 14y ago
    Do you know of any precedent where Bitcoin (or another "virtual good") was specifically treated by the government in this way?
  • tzs 14y ago
    Even if taking the bitcoins is not itself a crime in their jurisdiction, they may have committed other crimes as part of the operation to take the bitcoins, such as unauthorized access to a computer.