Where’s the tipping point? At some point the stealing has to stop for Bitcoin to remain legitimate.<p>With 7% stolen from MtGox and add to that all the other thefts (known and unknown) lets say right now today 10% in circulation are stolen.<p>At what point do merchants and users stop buying and accepting them because of the 1 in 10 chance they are accepting stolen Bitcoins?<p>Will next year be a 50% chance your accepting a stolen Bitcoin?
How do you tell if a bitcoin is stolen? There's no exploding dye pack. Just the blockchains and if it says you own it, then as far as the bitcoin industry goes you own it. Possession is ownership and anonymity are two thirds of bitcoin's attraction (fast electronic transfer outside of regulatory oversight is the third).<p>Even at $10 a coin 5000 bitcoin would be a nice payday for a lot of people in the world particularly because bitcoin is prefenced- stolen bitcoin don't sell at a discount. To put it in perspective, Nigerian banker princes will send out a lot of emails in hopes of earning a few hundred dollars.
AFAIK stolen BTC has never been clawed back and there is no consensus about whether the <i>nemo dat</i> doctrine applies. BTC will be stolen as long as there is still one place to launder it.