Decentralized Crypto Exchange Bancor Hacked, $12M in Ether Stolen

A few thoughts:

1. If this amount of value in the form of a government backed currency was stolen in some manner the victim would have multiple avenues of recourse and it is likely the funds would be returned, at least partially. The stolen funds would also be much more difficult to liquidate without being caught.

2. To steal this amount of value in the form of literally anything except cryptocurrency would be much more difficult and would almost have to involve the thief being in the physical location of whatever it is they are stealing, thus giving law enforcement an area to canvas and hopefully providing physical evidence as to who might be responsible.

I've been a advocate of cryptocurrency for several years now but I think the amount of value that is placed in a financial system just because it claims to be decentralized is way overblown. A massive part of the reason we have government is the first place is the minimize the impact of crimes exactly like this. The same institutions that cryptocurrency aims to replace would be held accountable for allowing this sort of thing to happen.