Have you ever heard of “Letters of Marque and Reprisal”?
I hadn’t until today.
Major hat tip to my friend the Digital Asset Investor who put them on my radar today.
Despite reading the Constitution in full a couple times in my life, I have somehow never noticed or given proper attention to
Article I, Section 8, Clause 11, which gives Congress the power:
“To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.”
We all know the first part, Congress has the power to declare War — and we all know that for over 50 years now, Presidents have largely ignored this provision entirely, leading us into all of these “forever wars” that President Trump is now ending one by one.
But as President Trump works to shut down abuses of war, what if returning the Letters of Marque and Reprisal may be back on the upswing?
We probably need to start with the most basic question….what in the heck are they?
Well, in short they basically legalized piracy. No like Napster-style music piracy, but literal pirates on the open seas.
Here’s a more detailed description
What They Are
A Letter of Marque and Reprisal was an official government license authorizing a private person (a privateer) to outfit a ship and capture enemy vessels during wartime.
Essentially, it legalized what would otherwise be piracy. A ship operating under a valid letter was considered lawful; without one, its crew could be treated as pirates.
The “marque” part generally referred to crossing the border to make such captures, while “reprisal” referred to retaliation against an enemy for wrongs or attacks.
Purpose
They allowed nations, especially those with small navies, to expand their naval power by commissioning private vessels.
Privateers would seize enemy ships and cargo, bringing them to an admiralty court for condemnation and sale, with profits shared between the government and privateer.
It was a way to both disrupt enemy commerce and supplement national defense at lower cost.
In U.S. History
The U.S. granted such letters during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
After the 1856 Declaration of Paris, most major powers agreed to abolish privateering. The U.S. never formally signed, but in practice stopped issuing letters.
Today, Congress still technically has the constitutional authority to issue them, but they have not been used in modern times.
Ok now you know what they are, but how could that possibly apply today?
Well, in at least three main ways which I’ll lay out right here and then I will focus specifically on #2:
1. Counterterrorism
After 9/11, Congressman Ron Paul proposed using Letters of Marque and Reprisal instead of full-scale war.
His idea: rather than invading entire nations, Congress could authorize private actors to target specific terrorist groups (like al-Qaeda), seize their assets, or capture their leaders.
This would have been a targeted, constitutional alternative to open-ended war authorizations.
2. Cyber Warfare
Some legal scholars have floated the idea of using Letters of Marque in cyberspace.
Instead of hiring government hackers, Congress could authorize private cybersecurity firms to go after foreign cybercriminals or hostile state-backed hackers.
The analogy: instead of private ships on the high seas, private firms would patrol the “digital seas.”
3. Anti-Piracy at Sea
In places like the Horn of Africa, Somali pirates were a big problem in the 2000s.
Some suggested Letters of Marque could legally empower private security companies to hunt down and capture pirate vessels, supplementing naval forces.
Are you connecting the dots yet?
It all goes back to President Trump’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile.
I’m sure you remember that executive order and all the actions taken by then, but here’s a short summary from the
WhiteHouse.gov:
- The Order creates a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve that will treat bitcoin as a reserve asset.
- The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve will be capitalized with bitcoin owned by the Department of Treasury that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. Other agencies will evaluate their legal authority to transfer any bitcoin owned by those agencies to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
- The United States will not sell bitcoin deposited into this Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which will be maintained as a store of reserve assets.
- The Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce are authorized to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, provided that those strategies impose no incremental costs on American taxpayers.
- It also established a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, consisting of digital assets other than bitcoin owned by the Department of Treasury that was forfeited in criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings.
- The government will not acquire additional assets for the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings.
- The Secretary of the Treasury may determine strategies for responsible stewardship, including potential sales from the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile.
A key part of that order was that the Government would not spend any money to acquire new Bitcoin — it all had to be budget neutral.
Ahhh, now you get it right?
We have (by far) the biggest and best Big Tech industry anywhere worldwide. What if we just deputized some of them to “claw back” all the crypto that has been stolen from American citizens over the years by theft or fraud?
Here’s where I go to the Digital Asset Investor who tied it all together by posting this video:
How is the US Govt going to add to the digital asset stockpile? Riddle Solved and
@ripple is right in the middle of it.
https://t.co/24o3Rq3ai8 pic.twitter.com/IBIzrsUqnC
— Digital Asset Investor (@digitalassetbuy)
August 26, 2025
Think that’s crazy?
Just crazy talk that could never happen?
Think again.
Let’s go even deeper to this post from Ripple who just announced they are joining TRM Labs’ Beacon Network, which you guessed it stops and claws back crypto stolen in illicit ways:
Ripple is proud to be a founding member of
@trmlabs’ Beacon Network — a first-of-its-kind real-time crypto crime response network.
Working with industry & law enforcement, Beacon helps stop illicit funds before they exit the blockchain.
Learn more:
https://t.co/6Yp7IpY6Dd https://t.co/EQ0b9yFkks
— Ripple (@Ripple)
August 20, 2025
Ripple of course is the leading American company in crypto, using it’s premier token XRP.
Now do you see why I have been so bullish on Ripple and XRP since 2017?
This only just scratches the surface but it seems like Ripple and XRP are under every single stone you look at in crypto, even though there’s a massive “MSM” campaign to almost never mention them. Almost like they’re special or unique in some way.
In a related report, I actually discussed my XRP sale targets last week with Jim Bazzani.
In case you missed it, you can catch that right here:
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[ H/T WLT Report ]
