U.S. Representative Bill Foster (D-Ill.), who also co-chairs the blockchain caucus, believes a trusted third-party, such as the courts, should have access to a crypto backdoor.
In an interview with Axios on Tuesday, the congressman said until the industry could grapple with crypto-ransomware attacks, total anonymity would be “very hard to sustain.”
Foster said new legislation and rules could establish a type of pseudo-anonymity where only judicial powers would have access to certain information. The congressman suggested allowing the court to use its access to a “very heavily guarded key” a “cryptographic backdoor in essence” allowing it to reverse transactions on the blockchain.
“You (authorities) have to be able to go to court to unmask participants under some circumstances,” said Foster. “It does not have to be visible to the whole world.”
The congressman also drew a distinction between digital and physical assets in the context of ransomware attacks, providing an example of unmarked dollar bills being put in a trash can versus total anonymity afforded to hackers.
