Circle's Defense: 'We Actually Need a Court Order to Freeze Stuff, Who Knew?'

Circle's Chief Strategy Officer Dante Disparte is tired of your assumptions. In a blog post published April 10, 2026, he directly defended why Circle didn't freeze USDC during the $270 million Drift Protocol exploit that drained the protocol on April 1. Apparently, being a regulated stablecoin issuer comes with the unglamorous requirement of actually following the rulebook.

The response comes after onchain investigator ZachXBT spent weeks calling out Circle for what he called "asleep at the wheel" behavior. ZachXBT pointed out that hundreds of millions in USDC moved from Solana to Ethereum via Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol during U.S. business hours while nothing was done. Imagine watching suspicious flows during trading hours and just... not doing anything. Wild concept, truly.

Circle's stance is simple: freezes don't happen on demand. "When Circle freezes USDC, it is not because we have decided, unilaterally or arbitrarily, that someone's assets should be taken from them. It is because the law requires us to act," Disparte wrote. Translation: they need a piece of paper signed by someone with actual authority, not just vibes and good intentions.

In other words, Circle can't just snap its fingers. There's actual paperwork involved, stacks of it probably, filed in triplicate, reviewed by compliance, blessed by legal, and then—maybe—action is taken. Revolutionary concept, really.

Disparte acknowledged the awkward reality: the same legal framework protecting users from arbitrary interference also slows response times during active exploits. The tools to intervene exist, he argued, but the authorization for rapid coordinated action does not. It's the crypto equivalent of having a fire extinguisher mounted on the wall but needing three managers to sign off before you can use it.

To fix this, Disparte is pushing for new legal structures. He highlighted the GENIUS Act and CLARIFY Act as potential vehicles for faster response protocols that still guard against overreach. The U.S. Treasury Department is already moving on GENIUS Act implementation, with the FDIC approving a proposed rule on April 7. Congress is suddenly very interested in making sure your dollars can be frozen quickly—that's definitely not concerning at all.

Disparte also published an op-ed in the Financial Times urging the UK to claim a "second-mover advantage" in stablecoin regulation by borrowing the best parts of Europe's