On September 15, BlockBeats reported that prominent blockchain investigator ZachXBT criticized Circle, the issuer of the stablecoin USDC, for its delayed response in blacklisting addresses linked to hacker groups. In an article, ZachXBT accused Circle of failing to take timely action after DeFi vulnerabilities and hacker attacks, despite being in a position to mitigate the damage. He specifically highlighted the company’s slow response to blacklisting addresses associated with the notorious Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking syndicate.
According to ZachXBT, Circle took four and a half months to blacklist the Lazarus Group’s addresses, far longer than other major issuers of stablecoins. This delay, he argued, allowed Circle to continue profiting from transactions linked to these malicious actors, despite having ample opportunity to act sooner. ZachXBT expressed frustration with what he perceives as Circle’s hypocrisy, stating, “We are tired of your hypocritical moral statements because you are the root of the problem.”
The critique underscores the growing tension between transparency advocates in the crypto community and large institutions like Circle, which face increasing scrutiny over how they manage security threats and balance profit with ethical responsibility in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.
