Circle faced criticism following the $285 million Drift Protocol hack for not acting quickly enough to freeze stolen USDC tokens. Prominent blockchain investigator ZachXBT alleged that faster action by Circle could have limited crypto losses, as significant amounts of the stolen funds were converted to USDC during the laundering process. However, freezing assets without proper legal authorization carries significant legal risks for the stablecoin issuer. The controversy highlights ongoing debates about the role of centralized stablecoin issuers in responding to DeFi exploits and their ability to intervene in real-time during active attacks. The Drift hackers used Jupiter DEX aggregator to rapidly swap stolen tokens into USDC before bridging funds to Ethereum and converting to ETH, making Circle's response time critical. This incident may influence future discussions about stablecoin issuer responsibilities and emergency response protocols.