Circle Unfreezes USDC Wallet After Bungled Freeze

Circle's decision to unfreeze one of 16 USDC wallets it had blocked earlier this week has sparked criticism from market commentators and on-chain investigators.

The wallet, linked to Goated.com, held approximately 130,966 USDC at the time of the update, according to data from Arkham. ZachXBT, an on-chain investigator, identified the restored address as '0x61f…e543' and noted that other affected wallets could also be restored soon.

Circle had frozen USDC balances across 16 hot wallets reportedly tied to unrelated businesses. At least one impacted entity claimed that the action was connected to a sealed U.S. civil case, although no public justification was provided.

ZachXBT conducted an independent review of on-chain activity and found the wallets appeared operational, with no signs of illicit behavior. He characterized the original freeze as 'possibly the single most incompetent' he has witnessed in over five years of tracking illicit crypto activity.