Circle Freezes $12.6 Million in Confidential USDC, Exposing Surveillance Risks
The post Circle Freezes $12.6 Million in Confidential USDC, Exposing Surveillance Risks appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Circle blacklisted Zama’s confidential USDC contract on Ethereum on May 30. The blacklist freezes roughly $12.6 million held in a cUSDC token contract. The freeze prevents holders of confidential USDC (cUSDC) from redeeming the tokens for standard USDC. The action raises fresh questions about issuer control over privacy-focused Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols. Circle Blacklist Halts cUSDC Redemptions Circle, the issuer of USDC, maintains a built-in blacklist on the USDC smart contract. Authorized Circle accounts add addresses, and blacklisted addresses cannot send or receive the stablecoin. The frozen contract is an ERC-1967 proxy that holds USDC on behalf of cUSDC token holders. Zama’s privacy protocol uses fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) to conceal balances and transfer amounts on public chains. Circle blacklisted the Zama (privacy protocol) Confident