Circle faced criticism from blockchain investigators for failing to freeze stolen USDC during the Drift Protocol hack. ZachXBT alleged that $71.4 million worth of USDC was bridged from Solana to Ethereum during U.S. business hours without intervention from Circle. The stablecoin issuer was accused of 'sitting on their hands' while millions in stolen funds moved through their Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP). This incident highlights ongoing debates about the responsibilities of regulated crypto entities to monitor and freeze illicit transactions in real-time. Circle did not immediately respond to requests for comment about their response protocols during the incident. The criticism underscores tensions between regulatory compliance requirements and the speed needed for crisis response in DeFi exploits. Industry observers noted this as a test case for how regulated crypto infrastructure should handle large-scale thefts.