Arizona lawmaker David Schweikert launched “The Rip-off Farms Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025” in August, which proposes neo-privateers — state-sanctioned pirates — to fight cybercriminals engaged in threats in opposition to the US.
The invoice authorizes the US president to difficulty letters of marque to “privately armed and geared up individuals” contracted by the federal government to “make use of all means fairly crucial” to grab property and detain or “punish” cybercriminals deemed a risk by the president.
These threats embrace crypto theft, pig butchering scams, ransomware assaults, id theft, accessing computer systems with out authorization to assemble delicate private or labeled info, on-line password trafficking, and compromising computer systems with malicious code. The invoice learn:
“Felony enterprises that make use of cybercrimes and coerced labor current an uncommon and extraordinary risk to the financial and nationwide safety of the US.”
The invoice characterised the scams as “acts of warfare” perpetrated by people, organized criminals, and international governments in opposition to the US and is a revival of an 18th-century legislation that would have implications for the way forward for cybersecurity and asset seizure if handed.
Associated: Crypto crime unit with $250M in seizures expands with Binance
US may funnel seized belongings into Bitcoin reserve and nationwide crypto stockpile
Over $142 million in crypto was misplaced to hackers in July, and the overall quantity of crypto stolen to date in 2025 exceeds $3 billion. Stolen crypto seized by US legislation enforcement officers in investigations may later be forfeited to the federal government in court docket proceedings.
US President Donald Trump signed an government order in January establishing a Bitcoin and crypto reserve, which may solely accumulate crypto via budget-neutral methods or asset forfeiture.
In July, the US federal authorities filed a civil grievance to say over 20 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at over $2.3 million, seized by the Dallas, Texas, division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) throughout an operation in opposition to the Chaos ransomware hacker group.
The US Division of Justice (DOJ) additionally seized $1 million in crypto from the BlackSuit ransomware group throughout the identical month.
In August, the DOJ licensed the seizure of $2.8 million in crypto from a pockets managed by Ianis Aleksandrovich Antropenko, who was charged with concentrating on people and companies with ransomware assaults.
Journal: Inside a 30,000 cellphone bot farm stealing crypto airdrops from actual customers
