Circle CEO clarifies decision against freezing crypto addresses linked to criminal activities., 2026/04/13 21:02:33

The CEO of Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, Jeremy Allaire, stated that his team does not plan to freeze crypto addresses without a court order or an investigation.

Speaking at a press conference in Seoul, Allaire mentioned that Circle will only block addresses holding USDC on legal grounds: at the request of law enforcement or by court decision. The company is in discussions with U.S. lawmakers regarding amendments to the CLARITY bill, which would allow stablecoin issuers to take action in extreme situations and block suspicious addresses. Such powers should be clearly defined in the law—companies should not act at their discretion, Allaire emphasized.

“A private company does not have the authority to determine which path is right and which is wrong. This is becoming a significant moral dilemma. If someone believes that Circle should deviate from what the law states and make decisions independently, that is a very risky proposition,” Allaire stated.

This response came as Allaire addressed criticism directed at his company for not blocking USDC associated with hacking incidents. Recently, independent blockchain investigator ZachXBT criticized Circle for failing to freeze 230 million USDC stolen from the Drift protocol and transferred from the Solana network to Ethereum via Circle’s cross-chain protocol. ZachXBT identified more than a dozen instances where Circle either blocked funds too late or failed to act altogether.

Previously, Allaire asserted that private stablecoins offer significantly more advantages than central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), whose transactions may be subject to government control.