Circle Unfreezes One of 16 Blacklisted USDC Wallets

Odaily News On-chain investigator ZachXBT posted on X, stating that Circle has unfrozen one of the previously frozen 16 wallets. This wallet is associated with Goated.com, with the address 0x61f...e543, and currently holds 130,966 USDC. ZachXBT indicated that more affected wallets are expected to be restored soon.

Previously, Circle froze the USDC balances in 16 hot wallets linked to multiple unrelated businesses. ZachXBT stated that this freeze is related to an undisclosed US civil case and criticized the case for being sealed without providing any basis for the freeze, calling it potentially the most unreasonable freeze he has seen in his over five years of investigation. MetaMask security researcher Taylor Monahan also posted on X criticizing the move, stating this is not the first time Circle has conducted improper freezes and that there is a lack of accountability and recourse mechanisms. Circle has not yet publicly commented on the specific wallets or the legal basis for the freeze.