Stablecoin issuer Circle has reportedly blacklisted a sensible contract linked to privateness protocol Zama, freezing roughly $12.6 million in person funds. The event, first flagged by on-chain investigator ZachXBT, entails the protocol’s Confidential USDC (cUSDC) contract deployed on Ethereum seven hours earlier than ban. The affected contract tackle had been publicly documented in Zama’s docs and visual on blockchain explorers, making the freeze each traceable and verifiable in actual time.
Zama’s Frozen Funds Draw Relationship To In a single day Finance And Authorized Dispute
In response to additional findings by ZachXBT, the freeze could also be not directly tied to latest controversy and authorized points surrounding the asset-management and yield-generating protocol In a single day Finance.
Information exhibits that pockets tackle 0xf7fcc deposited roughly $12.4 million in USDC into the Zama contract on Could 11, 2026. This pockets seems to be related to In a single day Finance, which has not too long ago been embroiled in governance tensions. Notably, token holders had alleged a attainable rug pull by the event group. This resulted in a governance vote on the DeFi protocol to distribute its treasury property.
ZachXBT shared extra data suggesting that In a single day Finance can also be going through a civil case in court docket. One of many plaintiffs within the protocol case is Patagon Administration, a agency identified within the DeFi house for partaking in aggressive governance methods, equivalent to hostile DAO takeovers/RFV raiding. Whereas no direct causal hyperlink has been confirmed between Circle actions and these occasions, the overlap between authorized proceedings, treasury actions, and the frozen funds has raised considerations about how interconnected DeFi protocols can expose unrelated customers, i.e., Zama customers on this case, to exterior dangers.
Circle’s Unilateral Motion Units Undesirable Precedent
Circle’s freeze has additionally reignited criticism of transparency practices by centralized issuers. In response to ZachXBT, the Zama group seems to have acquired no prior discover earlier than the cUSDC contract was blacklisted. If confirmed, this could amplify rising considerations about unilateral enforcement actions affecting decentralized functions and their customers with out warning.
Earlier in March 2026, Circle reportedly froze over 16 sizzling wallets related to varied entities with out publicly explaining its rationale. The most recent motion, nevertheless, goes a step additional by focusing on a protocol-level contract the place person funds are pooled, relatively than remoted wallets. This distinction is important as a result of it raises questions on custodial danger in supposedly decentralized techniques.
On the time of reporting, Circle has not issued an official rationalization for its unilateral motion in freezing Zama’s cUSDC contract.
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