Circle has reaffirmed its stance amid criticism over its failure to intervene during the exploit that resulted in about 280 million dollars in losses from the Solana based Drift Protocol.
Speaking at a press conference in Seoul, Jeremy Allaire explained that the company faced a moral dilemma during the incident. He stated that Circle is not in a position to determine right or wrong in such situations and can only act within the boundaries of the law when it comes to freezing wallets. Because of this limitation, the company did not move to freeze the stolen assets during the attack.
The exploit itself drew widespread attention across the crypto industry. According to Drift Protocol’s internal review, the breach was not caused by a flaw in its smart contracts but by a coordinated attack. The attacker reportedly gained access to administrative permissions linked to the platform’s security council through social engineering that began about a week earlier. After securing partial multisignature approval, introducing a malicious asset, and lifting withdrawal restrictions, the attacker was able to execute pre approved transactions and drain funds.
Some analysts have connected the attack to the well known hacking group Lazarus Group. While investigations continue, blockchain investigator ZachXBT argued that the scale of the losses might have been reduced if Circle had frozen the stolen funds in time.
Reports indicate that around 230 million dollars in USD Coin was transferred from Solana to Ethereum using Circle’s cross chain infrastructure, with the movement taking place over dozens of transactions. ZachXBT claimed that Circle had the technical ability to halt these funds but did not act while the transfers were ongoing.
In response, Allaire emphasized that Circle only intervenes when legally required to do so. He warned that allowing the company to make independent decisions outside legal frameworks could introduce significant risks. Although Circle is engaging with regulators to explore clearer guidelines for emergency actions, he maintained that such decisions cannot be made unilaterally.
At the same time, Circle continues to expand its footprint in Asia. The company has signed agreements with major South Korean exchanges, including Upbit and Bithumb, to support broader adoption of USDC in the region.#crypto#cryptonews https://coinsignals.net https://t.me/coinsignalpublic
