if we prove what Justin Sun did is theft, then we also prove that what Hive did is theft
I disagree with this premise. Many can show actual transaction history via exchanges as evidence of a purchase of property (crypto in the US is defined as property), while hive was created out of thin air. Steem has a white paper to define its operation and was probably purchased as property on the 'your keys/your coins' basic premise of crypto. Hive was free to create entirely new rules, which they did. They created new property out of thin air, and while they used Steem as the basis, they were under no obligation to duplicate the steem blockchain in every conceivable manner. The entire point of the fork was not to do that. Otherwise, why have a fork in the first place?
Every time a HF is pushed the money appears out of thin air and two projects are created. 22 Hardforks in a row the community did not split. The one time the community splits both sides call each other criminals. If you can't see why that's ridiculous I don't know what to say.
20 years down the line people will look back at these arguments and think:
And I include myself in that list.
Only one side can demonstrate that property was TAKEN from them, as opposed to not being CREATED FOR them.
It is ridiculous, and 'they' can call each other whatever they want. I agree, it will probably be 20 years before 'I didn't get my fork' is covered under any law, though I am still skeptical regarding a person being entitled to the labor of others. Creating a new blockchain, whether it was derived from the old or not, still involves labor. Property however has been a legal construct for millennia, and there is little ambiguity there now that crypto is viewed as such.
Ah yes, but the value of a crypto rests almost entirely within the foundation of a layer 0 community, so when we forked to Hive we siphoned a ton of value ("took it") from Steem and cut them out of the new chain. In fact, we gained even more value by cutting them out, because all the stake we siphoned was a liability to the network rather than an asset.
A law? A law in what country? By then hopefully everything is crypto and everyone will realize that crypto is the governance structure. Therefore, it is impossible for Steem to steal because Steem literally is an opt-in sovereign entity that makes the laws. Another country could say a theft has occurred, but that country's laws do not apply so it doesn't matter.