Chris Giancarlo wants to revive letters of marque to fight the Lazarus Group
Former CFTC chairman Chris Giancarlo proposes reviving constitutional letters of marque to allow private firms to hack back against North Korea's Lazarus Group.
The proposal first emerged in February 2025 when Giancarlo co-authored an op-ed with Christopher Perkins following the Lazarus Group's theft of approximately $1.4 to $1.5 billion from crypto exchange Bybit. They argued that Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution already provides Congress with the power to grant letters of marque and reprisal, which historically permitted private actors to engage in officially sanctioned attacks against a nation's enemies.
Privateer Playbook
Giancarlo continued promoting the concept through congressional testimony and a podcast in August 2025, where he suggested technology firms could compete on hacking and asset recovery capabilities, requiring presidential authorization. The competitive angle suggests that such rivalry would improve cybersecurity and increase the chances of recovering stolen assets.
The authors described these operators as 'neo-privateers,' and Lazarus was named explicitly as a target.
Legislative Response
The idea gained traction when Rep. David Schweikert introduced H.R. 4988, the Cybercrime Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act in August 2025, which would authorize operations against foreign cybercriminal enterprises, explicitly covering crypto theft groups like Lazarus. However, a White House national security memorandum issued in August 2026 recalibrated the approach, focusing on transnational criminal organizations rather than direct engagement with nation-state actors.
This distinction is significant as the Lazarus Group is widely described as state-sponsored, a category the memorandum deliberately avoided. The executive branch appears to support the general concept but is reluctant to authorize private firms to engage with foreign governments directly.
Unresolved Questions
Markets have yet to react to these proposals, with no clear price movements or trading activity tied to them. The legal and ethical implications remain substantial, including concerns about escalation, misattribution, and collateral damage from private hacking operations.
The key developments to watch are the fate of H.R. 4988 and how the White House's narrower focus will be applied in practice. The central question remains whether groups like Lazarus will fall within or outside the parameters being established. Giancarlo has made his case for private sector involvement in national cyber defense, while Washington continues to determine how much of this work it is willing to outsource.
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