Circle has come under fire for freezing funds linked to North Korean hackers. This event has drawn the attention of the community and raised questions about the security measures employed by the stablecoin issuer.
Freezing of Funds
On September 14, blockchain investigator ZachXBT disclosed that stablecoin issuers, including Tether, Circle, Paxos, and Techteryx, blacklisted two wallets associated with the Lazarus Group, holding approximately $4.96 million.
Figures and Facts
However, these wallets still hold $720,000 in DAI and $313,000 in Ethereum. The Lazarus Group laundered more than $200 million from 25 crypto thefts from 2020 to 2023. To date, a total of $6.98 million has been frozen, with $1.65 million retained across various exchanges.
Criticism of Circle
ZachXBT chastised Circle for its sluggish reaction in freezing the Lazarus Group's assets, contending that it revealed a deficiency in its commitment to safeguarding the bitcoin ecosystem from nefarious entities. He alleged that Circle prioritized revenues over security and condemned the absence of an incident response team.
The situation with Circle raises important questions about security and the speed of response to threats in the cryptocurrency world. Questions remain about the company's priorities and whether they have the necessary mechanisms to prevent such incidents in the future.
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