In the "ideal" situation that the thief is known, and you are in the same jurisdiction (let's say the US), do you realistically have any legal option against some individual or company that stole your bitcoins? What's to stop say Coinbase from just running away with all your bitcoins? And if they decide one day to do so, can you do anything about it?
Do I recall correctly that some people were prosecuted for some kind of theft involving World of Warcraft items? This was maybe 7 or 8 years ago and I'm not sure I am even remembering it correctly. Perhaps they were only charged with some kind of computer misuse crime. Perhaps it was only a civil case. I don't remember.<p>If you want to see what might have happened when digital object is truly stolen, try looking up what happened in this vague case.