I don't run my own mail servers. Nor do I run my own DNS, generate my own power of, gasp, keep my money stashed in a jar in my back yard.
And neither should you.
Pay somebody else to do the awesome things that coinbase is doing to keep your coins safe.
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(This advice is void for people holding HUGE sums of coins. For people holding <10 coins or so, I don't see a problem using coinbase. At all.)
Is it, even after MtGox?
As far as I know (IANAL) there is no law or precedent which takes the value of stolen bitcoins into consideration while sentencing. There is also no history (AFAIK) of prosecution, of serious prosecution which takes the effort to follow up on stolen coins may have been "mixed" etc., in cases of BTC theft.
Given this, does not an online service (like Coinbase) which holds a large amount of bitcoin in "stealable" form present, to potential criminals, a lot of incentive to break in and take it all away? I, for one, wouldn't keep up to 5000 USD in such a place, at least till the time there has been some serious prosecution and proportionate sentencing of BTC thieves. But of course to each their own.
Awesome things like what MtGox did?