Crypto neo-privateers: a bold hack defense reviving a 200-year-old privateering legacy to protect entrepreneurs, boost national security, and reclaim U.S. tech leadership—time to get daring, say Perkins and Giancarlo.

Former CFTC chair J. Christopher Giancarlo and Chris Perkins, president of CoinFund and former head of global FX at Citi, argue that the United States should revive a form of 18th–19th century privateering to fight modern crypto-enabled cybercrime and hostile state actors. Their CoinTelegraph op-ed proposes a system of "crypto neo-privateers" operating under letters of marque and reprisal, a long-dormant constitutional power that allows Congress to authorize private parties to seize assets belonging to designated foreign adversaries. In their framing, selected U.S. companies or individuals would receive legal authority to hack wallets and recover digital assets controlled by sanctioned governments, terrorist organizations, or foreign ransomware and hacking groups, with immunity from U.S. prosecution for actions taken under those commissions and a contractual right to share in recovered proceeds. The authors present this as a way to close what they describe as a widening gap between sophisticated cyber adversaries and slower, resource-constrained government capabilities. By creating direct financial incentives, a neo-privateer program would seek to "hack the hackers," turning private security and technical talent loose on OFAC‑sanctioned wallets and other hostile actors, rather than relying solely on traditional law enforcement and intelligence operations. They also link the idea to broader policy goals: protecting U.S. crypto entrepreneurs from foreign and criminal threats, encouraging them to build onshore, and strengthening national security and U.S. technology leadership by using recovered assets to help fund a strategic reserve of digital assets. The proposal sits within a growing debate in Washington about more aggressive tools for countering ransomware and nation‑state hacking, but it would require Congress to actively revive and define the use of letters of marque in cyberspace, raising complex legal, diplomatic, and oversight questions that extend beyond the op-ed itself.

✨ AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

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