Contrary to what most people on hacker news seem to believe, or believe others believe, yes, it's a crime, and yes, the FBI / law enforcement is often involved. (But don't seem to catch people.)
In US law, theft is taking someone's property with the intent of depriving them of it permanently. It's very established in US cases that cryptocurrencies are property. The taking part is very public record. I don't think it would be hard to prove that someone intended to steal this money, given all the work involved that is publicly viewable.
It is indeed a Wild West in crypto land, but not because stealing is legal, rather because the odds of getting caught are slim, and so successful bandits keep right going.
That'd be interesting to know. I'd think that the involved parties would rather not take the "official" route, because that could force them to disclose business practices that might be questionable.
It looks as if staying unregulated and operating "in the shadow" is more important to the crypto world than legal security. It seems as if you can't have both.
> theft is taking someone's property with the intent of depriving them of it permanently
I don't disagree with you here, but in this case the asset was freely given. The giving was a mistake, but from what I understand if someone sends you something you're under no obligation to send it back to them.
In US law, theft is taking someone's property with the intent of depriving them of it permanently. It's very established in US cases that cryptocurrencies are property. The taking part is very public record. I don't think it would be hard to prove that someone intended to steal this money, given all the work involved that is publicly viewable.
It is indeed a Wild West in crypto land, but not because stealing is legal, rather because the odds of getting caught are slim, and so successful bandits keep right going.