Circle's Bungled Freeze: 16 USDC Wallets Frozen Without Basis

Circle, the issuer of the popular stablecoin USDC, has faced criticism for freezing 16 wallets in connection with a civil litigation case in the United States. The company claims the action was tied to an ongoing legal proceeding.

However, on-chain detective ZachXBT disputed this claim, pointing out that the named wallets had no connection to the case and instead handled routine business operations.

A review of recent data revealed that the addresses belonged to crypto exchanges, online casinos, and currency exchange platforms. Transaction analysis showed thousands of regular payments, which even a basic analyst could quickly identify as company operational wallets.

ZachXBT called the freeze 'one of the most incompetent actions' he had seen in over five years of work, emphasizing that the case remains sealed and Circle had no objective basis for the block. One wallet has already been unfrozen without explanation.