Ex-CFTC Chair Backs White House Plan to Let Firms Hack Cybercriminals

Giancarlo's endorsement carries weight because he floated the privateer-style approach himself, so his shift toward a narrower, government-run version signals where the policy consensus is settling. The significance is less in the hacking authority itself than in the precedent: offensive cyber operations moving from state monopoly toward sanctioned private participation. That affects crypto firms and exchanges most directly, as the likely first users, but it also raises oversight and liability questions that the document's maturity claim does not resolve. Whether the program stays tightly government-run or widens to broader private latitude is the open question.