What to know:
- Circle faces backlash after $420M in stolen crypto reportedly remained unfrozen across multiple exploits.
- Investigator ZachXBT highlights $280M Drift hack transfers with no USDC intervention.
- Over 232M USDC bridged from Solana to Ethereum via CCTP during exploit activity.
Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, is facing scrutiny from crypto investigator ZachXBT, who pointed out that $420 million in stolen funds was never frozen during several blockchain hacks. The crypto analyst shared a thread on X on April 3, 2026, highlighting this week’s Drift Protocol hack, where $280 million was transferred without Circle intervening.
Source: ZachXBT’s X Post
ZachXBT mentions that the hacker has withdrawn about 232 million USDC from Solana to Ethereum via Circle’s CCTP bridge. The number of transactions in total was more than one hundred, lasting for six hours. Other than that, more than ten other DeFi platforms that operate within Solana have been impacted as well.
Elliptic, a blockchain intelligence company, pointed out that there were indicators that suggested the possibility of involvement by North Korea’s hackers with regard to the Drift exploit.
The reporting by ZachXBT raises doubts about the claims made by Circle that its USDC is a safer alternative to USDT issued by Tether. A Circle spokesperson said, ‘Circle is a regulated business that complies with sanctions, law enforcement requirements, and court orders.
Circle freezes funds when required by law and in line with user protection standards. This incident at Drift highlights the need for stronger security and accountability.
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Circle Criticized Over Delayed USDC Freeze
The thread also referenced previous hacks, such as last May’s Cetus Protocol exploit, valued at $223 million. ZachXBT explained that the attacker used CCTP to move 61 million USDC from Sui to Ethereum over 60 transactions in roughly 1.5 hours.
Requests from the Cetus team and private sector experts to freeze the stolen funds were reportedly ignored for a month, during which the USDC had already been converted to ETH.
However, ZachXBT clarifies that he doesn’t expect USDC to be unsuccessful either. “I use USDC, and Circle does make great products, but there are actual ramifications from their decisions, which affect actual people. The $420 million mentioned applies only to public instances; the actual number would be higher. The company has enough means and is regulated enough to do much better.”
Recently, ZachXBT joined Paradigm as an incident response consultant, utilizing his academic background to enhance the protection of digital assets.
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