US bill proposes 21st-century privateers to take on cybercrime

Arizona lawmaker David Schweikert introduced “The Scam Farms Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025” in August, which proposes neo-privateers — state-sanctioned pirates — to combat cybercriminals engaged in threats against the United States.

The bill authorizes the US president to issue letters of marque to “privately armed and equipped persons” contracted by the government to “employ all means reasonably necessary” to seize property and detain or “punish” cybercriminals deemed a threat by the president.

These threats include crypto theft, pig butchering scams, ransomware attacks, identity theft, accessing computers without authorization to gather sensitive personal or classified information, online password trafficking, and compromising computers with malicious code. The bill read:

“Criminal enterprises that employ cybercrimes and coerced labor present an unusual and extraordinary threat to the economic and national security of the United States.”

The bill characterized the scams as “acts of war” perpetrated by individuals, organized criminals, and foreign governments against the US and is a revival of an 18th-century law that could have implications for the future of cybersecurity and asset seizure if passed.

The Scam Farms Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025. Source: US Congress

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US could funnel seized assets into Bitcoin reserve and national crypto stockpile

Over $142 million in crypto was lost to hackers in July, and the total amount of crypto stolen so far in 2025 exceeds $3 billion. Stolen crypto seized by US law enforcement officials in investigations could later be forfeited to the government in court proceedings.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January establishing a Bitcoin and crypto reserve, which could only accumulate crypto through budget-neutral strategies or asset forfeiture.

In July, the US federal government filed a civil complaint to claim over 20 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at over $2.3 million, seized by the Dallas, Texas, division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during an operation against the Chaos ransomware hacker group.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) also seized $1 million in crypto from the BlackSuit ransomware group during the same month.

In August, the DOJ authorized the seizure of $2.8 million in crypto from a wallet controlled by Ianis Aleksandrovich Antropenko, who was charged with targeting individuals and businesses with ransomware attacks.

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