Circle Responds to Drift Theft Incident: USDC Freezing Must Be Legally Enforced, Calls for Accelerated Crypto Legislation and Improved Security Mechanisms

On April 10, Circle's Chief Strategy Officer Dante Disparte issued a statement in response to the theft of over $270 million from Drift Protocol on April 1. Disparte stated that Circle freezes USDC only when legally mandated, and this is not a unilateral decision, nor does it involve backdoors or algorithmic monitoring. This reflects the rule of law in internet-native financial activities. He pointed out that the core issue facing open systems is that the legal framework's response time lags behind technological advancements. Protocols, wallets, exchanges, and stablecoin issuers should view security and accountability as a shared responsibility. DeFi protocols could develop on-chain technical protection measures by referencing the circuit breaker mechanisms in traditional markets. He also urged that the legislative processes for the U.S. GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act should incorporate due process, property rights, and financial privacy protection standards into law before the next major security incident occurs.