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Comment by yeukhon | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if law enforcement is already questioning him; I am sure FBI has eyes on him already. Yes. I want him to come out and explain to us. Any employees should come out and give us insider stories. Whoever took advantage of this (whether it's criminal or Mt itself) should be punished.

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I'm pretty sure the FBI doesn't operate in Japan. (Not like that, anyway.)

Does the FBI even consider bitcoin as something that actually has any value that requires investigating an accusation of theft?

Sure, I mean the prices were listed by Mt Gox. No one involved in the transactions were claiming that the BTC were of no value. It's just more of a CIA thing :)

> Does the FBI even consider bitcoin as something that actually has any value that requires investigating an accusation of theft?

ISTR that both the US Justice Department and at least one state government in the US has initiated prosecution based on the fact that Bitcoin is a thing with value, so probably.

I would think they were more interested in the products being sold as compared to the made-up currency that was being used to purchase said products.

But I haven't been following that case so I have to admit I have outdated info on that one.

> I would think they were more interested in the products being sold as compared to the made-up currency that was being used to purchase said products.

I'm not talking about the SR related prosecutions, I'm talking about, among others, the ponzi scheme prosecution against Bitcoin Savings & Trust, where bitcoins were invested for promised returns in bitcoins in a ponzi scheme. (Though I misrecalled, and this prosecution was a civil prosecution by the SEC not the Justice Department; still, its a pretty strong indicator that the US federal government recognizes bitcoins as thing of value when it comes to the law regarding such things.)

That makes me wonder if, in that case, if the SEC would have to recognize some form of value to the bitcoins lost or is it enough that the victim feels there was value to the bitcoins lost.

Just because the Feds may not recognize any value of an object you possess doesn't mean that another can simple take it on a whim.

Things like bitcoin sure make for interesting legal debates.

But given this person was/is a US citizen (I believe he was?), even though he's now operating outside US, the States has big interest in bitcoin, perhaps the States has already compiled a stack of profile of him :)

Correct. They have offices all over the world, but they obviously don't have primary jurisdiction in this case.

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