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One day after $53 million abruptly disappeared from an experimental cryptocurrency project, a note appearing to be from the attacker has surfaced on PasteBin, claiming that the money drained from the system is now legally his. The attacker withdrew the money by exploiting a contract bug in the code of the DAO (or Decentralized Autonomous Organization), a collective investment fund that uses the Ethereum cryptocurrency.

"I have carefully examined the code of The DAO and decided to participate after finding the feature where splitting is rewarded with additional ether," the note reads. "I have made use of this feature and have rightfully claimed 3,641,694 ether, and would like to thank the DAO for this reward."

"My law firm has advised me that my action is fully compliant with United States criminal and tort law."

It’s unclear whether this legal reasoning holds up, but it’s not entirely unprecedented. The DAO is structured like a legal contract, and while the attack certainly wasn’t an intended use of that contract, it proceeded according to the contract’s pre-established rules. Cornell cryptographer Emil Gün Sirer wrote yesterday that draining the funds may not even qualify as a hack.

http://www.michellhilton.com/2016/06/simon-jentzsch-ether.html