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Circle Freezes $12.6M in Zama’s cUSDC Contract

A federal ex parte order blacklisted the contract, exposing issuer control over USDC that can override privacy wrappers.

Overview

  • Circle blacklisted Zama’s cUSDC contract, freezing roughly $12.6 million in pooled USDC after a court order was filed in the Overnight Finance case.
  • The freeze followed a class-action complaint that alleges Overnight Finance creator Maxim Ermilov moved about $15.7 million from a shared treasury and that roughly $12.5 million of USDC flowed into the cUSDC contract.
  • On-chain investigator ZachXBT publicly linked the blacklisted address to Zama’s official cUSDC contract and traced the disputed deposit to Overnight Finance, which prompted rapid enforcement.
  • Zama acknowledged the blacklist, said Circle gave no prior warning, paused its confidential contracts while it investigates, and said most funds in cUSDC came from the disputed deposit.
  • The ex parte court order and the pooled design of cUSDC mean issuer-level freeze powers can lock innocent users’ funds, and a June 1 hearing will let both sides present arguments and shape the legal precedent.