trupedo

Computers can verify, instantly and exactly, the monetary damage of "stolen" bitcoins.

Nobody has veified (or posssibly can verify) the damage of a "stolen' movie. For all we know piracy promotes purchase.

Either way, you can't "steal" information by copying it, but therein lies the difference in how the word might apply here but not in copyright discussions.

> It's not just about losing the bitcoin, people running these exchanges may be personally liable.

The law is still very murky here, and there are plenty of ways to deflect responsibility.

I'm not saying any of this is right, I'm suggesting that the way our culture and infrastructure is laid out, running a shoddy (perhaps conspiratorial) business might actually be the optimal path -- and that's where we need a solution.

But are the customers willing to pay a significant premium price for the development effort of NASA-ized exhange?

If the answer is no (and I suspect it is), then incentives are aligned so that putting extra effort into security is something an exchange operator should definitely not do.

All of this is also assuming (on faith) that the business model is actually running an exchange, as opposed to a hack-blaming racket.