Careful ⚠️ Read if you've used Coinbase...

[yaya91]

“Imagine writing a check to a friend. Then, the bank withdraws the funds from your account before your friend cashes the check. Is the bank allowed to keep the funds? The law clearly says no, but that’s exactly what happened with cryptocurrency sent via Coinbase.com…”

The law in California clearly states that funds not delivered or claimed by their recipient due to an out-of-date e-mail address must be left to the state to “prevent illicit enrichment.”

[shaw1]

First things first. This is in the wrong section, methinks.

As to your point. Left to the state? 

Fun game. Let's play along.

Let's say I create a coinbase alternative that works in many different countries.
My service is based in country A, user 1 is based in country B, and user 2 is based in country C.

Okay. So let's say that user 1 wants to send money to user 2 via email. But the email is outdated, and the transaction can't go through.
Now, that money belongs to the state, right?
Which state? The business is registered in A, but the money originated in B. But by rights, it would have been sent into country C.

And we haven't even touched on whether or not bitcoin is considered a currency in these different countries.

In the future, if you want folks around here to take you seriously, try to avoid starting a sentence with "The law in California".