You had me up until the "very little regulation and no legal recourse" part at the end. Theft is theft and believe me, there are regulations against that.
There is regulation against theft( though does any legal authority investigate bitcoin thefts?) . I meant regulations dealing what bitcoin exchanges can do with your money or what steps they have to take to protect it. For example, although I don't think any bitcoin exchanges loan out money yet, if they did, there is no amount they are required to keep as a minimum balance to cover withdrawals (unless the government legally deems them a bank, in which case my entire post is irrelevant)
... You use the exchange for exactly that, exchanging bitcoins, not holding them. Yes an exchange may possess your coins right after you convert your dollars to BTC, but you can just put them in your own account to be held for free.... That wouldn't give the exchange much time to do anything with your money.
I would imagine that even if for some strange reason the Secret Service (who likely would investigate something like this) didn't pick up your claim you would still have grounds for a civil suit. Just insert sympathetic jury!
