{"id":79107,"date":"2026-04-04T06:01:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T06:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=79107"},"modified":"2026-04-04T06:01:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T06:01:31","slug":"the-circle-usdc-files-zachxbt-finds-420m-in-suspect-transactions-weak-oversight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=79107","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Circle USDC Files\u2019: ZachXBT Finds $420M In Suspect Transactions, Weak Oversight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

On-chain investigator ZachXBT has published a new report, titled \u201cThe Circle USDC Files,\u201d alleging more than $420 million in compliance failures tied to the company\u2019s USDC stablecoin since 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The analysis, released on social media platform X on Friday, chronicles multiple high\u2011profile decentralized finance (DeFi) exploits in which Circle allegedly failed to use its on\u2011chain freezing and blacklist capabilities to halt the flow of stolen funds.<\/p>\n

Alleged Inaction By Circle<\/h2>\n

Circle\u2019s token contract includes an explicit freeze\/blacklist function, and the company\u2019s terms of service reserve the right to restrict access for suspected illicit actors \u201cin its sole discretion.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet, ZachXBT\u2019s report <\/a>claims that in many widely reported thefts and hacks, the issuer either delayed action or did not freeze funds at all, allowing attackers to move large sums across blockchains and convert them into other assets.<\/p>\n

The report opens with the April 1, 2026, Drift Protocol exploit, in which the attacker drained roughly $280 million. According to ZachXBT, the thief used Circle\u2019s Cross\u2011Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) to bridge more than 232 million USDC from Solana (SOL) to Ethereum (ETH) in over 100 transactions.<\/p>\n

The incident had ripple effects across the Solana ecosystem<\/a>, indirectly impacting more than 10 DeFi projects. Despite the funds moving through Circle\u2019s native bridge for hours, the report says no USDC was frozen during the laundering.<\/p>\n

ZachXBT also details a January 25, 2026, attack on SwapNet that resulted in $16 million being stolen. Roughly $3 million in USDC remained in the exploiter\u2019s address for two days.\u00a0Both law enforcement and private\u2011sector analysts reportedly submitted temporary freeze requests<\/a> to Circle for that address, but Circle did not act.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nine\u2011Figure Losses In Crypto Hacks<\/h2>\n

Among several other cases cited in the report, ZachXBT also points to broader, long\u2011running patterns. In April 2024, he published a separate investigation into the Lazarus Group<\/a> laundering that traced funds from more than two dozen hacks being converted to fiat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Law enforcement requested freezes from four stablecoin issuers \u2014 Circle, Tether, Paxos, and Techteryx \u2014 for two addresses tied to that investigation. The report claims the other three issuers acted quickly, while Circle took approximately 4.5 months longer to freeze the same addresses.<\/p>\n

Taken together, ZachXBT says these cases \u2014 many of them public and high\u2011value \u2014 add up to nine\u2011figure losses to the crypto ecosystem caused by repeated inaction over a multi\u2011year period.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He stresses that the $420 million-plus figure covers only major public incidents<\/a> and that the true total could be substantially higher. The overarching claim is that Circle possesses the contractual and technical tools to intervene, yet has not used them consistently or promptly, with concrete harm to victims and the broader community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have every tool and resource available to do better. They just haven\u2019t,\u201d he writes, closing his report with a pointed question: who, exactly, is Circle serving?<\/p>\n

\"Circle\"<\/p>\n

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On-chain investigator ZachXBT has published a new report, titled \u201cThe Circle USDC Files,\u201d alleging more than $420 million in compliance failures tied to the company\u2019s USDC stablecoin since 2022.\u00a0 The analysis, released on social media platform X on Friday, chronicles multiple high\u2011profile decentralized finance (DeFi) exploits in which Circle allegedly failed to use its on\u2011chain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-79107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}