Circle Internet Financial
Last changed 2026-10-27 · Fact-check review — Fact-check review (verdict: revise): the reviewer checked the page's claims against its sources; the judge moved the trust score from 62 to 51. Version history →
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anchored·2MG3qW…J72oSummary
Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL) is the issuer of USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, with approximately $78 billion in circulation as of May 2026. It operates under a court-order-only freeze policy that drew intense scrutiny after the April 2026 Drift Protocol hack, in which about $232 million in USDC was bridged via Circle's CCTP over roughly six hours without intervention, leading to the McCollum v. Circle class action and ZachXBT's alleged $420 million in prior missed freezes. Circle is also a regulated, publicly listed issuer with a conditional OCC trust bank approval, and experienced a temporary depeg in March 2023.
Connected Entities
22 entities · 60 linked investigations- Jeremy Allaire→member of→Circle Internet Financial(95%)
- Sean Neville→member of→Circle Internet Financial(90%)
- Coinbase→associated with→Circle Internet Financial(85%)
- Centre Consortium→subsidiary of→Circle Internet Financial(80%)
- Ethereum→mentioned with→Coinbase(60%)
- Ethereum→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- Circle→mentioned with→ZachXBT(70%)
- Circle→mentioned with→Binance(60%)
- Circle→mentioned with→Sui(70%)
- Circle→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
- + 60 more
Timeline(29 events)
October 2013
Circle Internet Financial founded by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville in Boston, Massachusetts.
Circle Internet Group - Wikipedia2015
Circle receives the first BitLicense from the New York Department of Financial Services.
Circle Internet Group - WikipediaSeptember 2018
Circle introduces USDC through the Centre Consortium alongside Coinbase and Bitmain.
Circle Internet Group - Wikipedia2019
Sean Neville steps down as co-CEO; Jeremy Allaire becomes sole CEO.
Circle Internet Group - WikipediaAugust 2022
OFAC sanctions Tornado Cash. Circle freezes USDC linked to sanctioned addresses the same day. Separately, approximately $45 million USDC in Nomad Bridge hack addresses is never blacklisted despite a 30–45 minute freeze window.
Circle Freezes Tornado Cash Addresses - CoinTelegraphOctober 2022
Mango Markets exploited for approximately $110 million; ZachXBT later documents approximately $57.5 million in USDC routed through Circle was never frozen.
CFTC Press Release / The Merkle2023
Centre Consortium dissolved; Circle becomes sole governor of USDC.
Circle Internet Group - WikipediaMarch 2023
Silicon Valley Bank fails. Circle discloses $3.3 billion in USDC cash reserves held at SVB, representing approximately 8% of USDC backing.
Circle Confirms $3.3B of USDC Reserves at SVB - CoinDeskMarch 2023
USDC depegs to a low of approximately $0.87, its most severe peg deviation. Federal intervention ensuring SVB depositors are made whole leads to rapid recovery.
USDC Falls to 87 Cents After Circle SVB Disclosure - DecryptMarch 2025
Circle launches CCTP V2 on Ethereum and Avalanche, adding 30-second fast finality and programmable post-transfer hooks.
CCTP V2: Delivering Secure Cross-Chain USDC Transfers - Circle BlogMay 2025
Cetus Protocol hacked for $223 million on Sui. Attackers bridge 61 million USDC via Circle's infrastructure in 90 minutes. Circle blacklists the funds one month later, after conversion to Ether.
Cetus Protocol Hacked for More Than $200 Million - EllipticJune 2025
Circle completes IPO on NYSE (CRCL) at $31/share, raising over $1.1 billion. Shares surge approximately 168% on day one.
Circle IPO Debut on NYSE - CoinDeskJuly 2025
GENIUS Act signed into law, establishing the first U.S. federal statutory framework for payment stablecoins.
December 2025
Circle receives conditional OCC approval to establish First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., a national digital currency trust bank.
OCC Conditionally Approves Five National Trust Bank Charter ApplicationsJanuary 2026
Swapnet hacked for $16 million; approximately 3 million USDC accessible for two days while freeze requests are allegedly denied by Circle. Funds converted before court orders materialize.
USDC Freeze Controversy: ZachXBT Says Circle Froze 16 Legitimate Wallets, Missed Real Hacks - Bitcoin.com NewsFebruary 2026
OCC publishes proposed GENIUS Act implementing rules covering reserve management, redemption protocols, and operational oversight for stablecoin issuers.
March 2026
Circle freezes USDC in 16 business wallets tied to a sealed U.S. civil case (approximately case 26-cv-2327), including the DFINITY Foundation's ckETH Minter smart contract, in what critics later call an overcorrection. At least five wallets are subsequently unfrozen.
Circle USDC Freeze: 16 Wallets Blocked Including ICP Bridge - AMLBotMarch 2026
Circle partially reverses the March 23 wallet freeze, unfreezing at least five of 16 wallets including DFINITY's ckETH Minter.
April 2026
Drift Protocol exploited for approximately $285 million, attributed to North Korean state-linked actors. Approximately $232 million in USDC bridged from Solana to Ethereum via CCTP across 100+ transactions over six hours during U.S. business hours. Circle takes no freeze action despite being alerted within approximately one hour.
Circle Under Fire After $285 Million Drift Hack - CoinDeskApril 2026
ZachXBT publishes 'Welcome to the Circle USDC Files' on X, documenting 15 cases totaling over $420 million in alleged missed freezes since 2022.
ZachXBT Accuses Circle of Slow USDC Freezes - The BlockApril 2026
Circle Chief Policy Officer Dante Disparte publishes blog post defending court-order-only freeze policy and calling for industry 'circuit breakers.'
Circle Explains Why It Didn't Freeze Stolen USDC in the $275 Million Drift Hack - Yahoo FinanceApril 2026
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire publicly states USDC freezes require a court order or law enforcement directive, describing discretionary action as a 'moral quandary.'
Circle's Allaire Says USDC Freezes Require Legal Orders - CoinDeskApril 2026
Joshua McCollum files McCollum v. Circle class action in federal court in Massachusetts, alleging aiding and abetting, negligence, and Bank Secrecy Act violations.
Drift Degen Sues Circle - DL NewsApril 2026
Drift Protocol announces $147.5 million rescue package from Tether and partners, including USDC replacement with USDT as primary settlement asset on relaunch.
Drift Gets $148M Rescue and Replaces USDC with USDT - CoinDeskApril 2026
American Banker publishes 'Circle Won't Freeze. Tether Will.' comparing freeze policy philosophies and citing AMLBot data showing Tether freezes assets at approximately 30 times Circle's rate.
Circle Won't Freeze Stolen Crypto. Tether Will. Now What? - American BankerApril 2026
ZachXBT publicly accuses Circle of being 'asleep' during the Drift hack and labels Circle, Jeremy Allaire, and USDC 'bad actors for the industry.'
Circle Had 6 Hours to Freeze Stolen Drift Funds - CryptoTimesDecision Log
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- slot 419341079 · hash 51iCQCGXk2tVRNVRNuY4LEyYwuASmenjASyruxaTKaVw
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (8 decisions). 51 of 54 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-code-merge-writer
generated: 5/10/2026, 6:08:40 AM
last updated: 10/27/2026, 7:00:15 PM
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