{"id":20671,"date":"2026-01-26T22:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/circle-faces-backlash-over-unfrozen-usdc-after-3m-swapnet-theft\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T22:30:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:30:27","slug":"circle-faces-backlash-over-unfrozen-usdc-after-3m-swapnet-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/circle-faces-backlash-over-unfrozen-usdc-after-3m-swapnet-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"Circle faces backlash over unfrozen USDC after $3m SwapNet theft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Stablecoin issuer Circle is facing renewed criticism from the crypto security community after more than $3 million worth of stolen USDC remained unfrozen for hours following a reported theft tied to SwapNet users.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_b0a97ff749ecc29c8bdf9c734ffb36f5\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A commentator on X questioned whether Circle would act proactively or require a U.S. court order before freezing the assets. <\/li>\n<li>Blockchain investigator ZachXBT called Circle a \u201cbad actor\u201d and questioning the firm\u2019s approach to user protection.<\/li>\n<li>Circle has pursued closer ties with regulators and traditional financial institutions as it expands USDC across multiple blockchains, but critics say enforcement has at times been slow or inconsistent.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>A post circulating on X said the funds had been sitting in the original theft address on Base for more than eight hours without intervention, questioning whether Circle would act proactively or require a U.S. court order before freezing the assets. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWill @circle save this man his retirement savings,\u201d the post asked, \u201cor will they instead ask for a US court order to \u2018prove\u2019 something which is entirely publicly verifiable on-chain?\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">$3,000,000+ of stolen USDC has now been sat in this initial theft address for over 8 hours \u2013 will <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/circle?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@circle<\/a> save this man his retirement savings or will they instead ask for a US court order to &#8220;prove&#8221; something which is entirely publicly verifiable on-chain?<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jerallaire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@jerallaire<\/a>? <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Mwh7x5Ul0P\">pic.twitter.com\/Mwh7x5Ul0P<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 tanuki42 (@tanuki42_) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tanuki42_\/status\/2015638623832748376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">January 26, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Blockchain investigator ZachXBT amplified the criticism, calling Circle a \u201cbad actor\u201d and questioning the firm\u2019s approach to user protection. \u201cWhy should anyone continue building on $USDC when you never take care of your users as a centralized stablecoin issuer?\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">History has shown that Circle is a bad actor.<\/p>\n<p>SwapNet contracts were exploited for $13M USDC on Base ~10 hours ago. <\/p>\n<p>3M USDC is still sitting freezable at<br \/>0x6cAad74121bF602e71386505A4687f310e0D833e<\/p>\n<p>Why should anyone continue building on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%24USDC&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">$USDC<\/a> when you never take care of your\u2026 <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fgP3EmS7Qr\">pic.twitter.com\/fgP3EmS7Qr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ZachXBT (@zachxbt) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/zachxbt\/status\/2015659175892885541?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">January 26, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The incident has reignited a long-running debate over the responsibilities of centralized stablecoin issuers, particularly during hacks and exploits. <\/p>\n<p>Unlike decentralized assets, centralized stablecoins such as USDC and USDT can be frozen by their issuers, a feature often touted as a safeguard against theft. According to <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/protos.com\/bad-actor-circle-slammed-for-letting-stolen-3m-usdc-sit-unfrozen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Protos<\/a>, hackers typically attempt to quickly swap freeze-able assets for alternatives like DAI or ETH, which can then be laundered through mixers such as Tornado Cash.<\/p>\n<p>In this case, critics say the delay increased the risk that the stolen funds could still be moved or laundered, despite remaining visible on-chain.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why it matters<\/h2>\n<p>Circle, which issues USDC, is one of the largest stablecoin operators globally. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Boston. <\/p>\n<p>USDC is fully backed by cash and short-dated U.S. Treasuries, according to Circle, and the firm positions the stablecoin as a regulated, transparent alternative to other dollar-pegged tokens. <\/p>\n<p>Circle has also sought closer ties with regulators and traditional financial institutions as it pushes USDC adoption across multiple blockchains.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the company has drawn criticism in past incidents for what some analysts view as slow or inconsistent enforcement. The crypto security community previously raised concerns following last year\u2019s $42 million GMX exploit, as well as the laundering of funds stolen by North Korean-linked hackers from Bybit and other platforms.<\/p>\n<p>By comparison, rival stablecoin issuer Tether has frozen approximately $1.6 billion in USDT across more than 2,500 addresses, according to data from a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/protos.com\/bad-actor-circle-slammed-for-letting-stolen-3m-usdc-sit-unfrozen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Dune Analytics<\/a> dashboard maintained by AMLBot. <\/p>\n<p>Circle, by contrast, has frozen roughly $110 million in USDC across fewer than 500 addresses, the data shows.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stablecoin issuer Circle is facing renewed criticism from the crypto security community after more than $3 million worth of stolen USDC remained unfrozen for hours following a reported theft tied&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20671"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20672,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20671\/revisions\/20672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}