Circle freezes $58 million in USDC linked to Libra memecoin scandal: Arkham

Stablecoin issuer Circle has frozen two wallet accounts linked to the Libra memecoin scandal, containing around $57.6 million in USDC, Arkham reported Wednesday.

According to screenshots provided by Arkham, one frozen Libra wallet contains $44.59 million in USDC, while another, the deployer wallet for Libra, holds around $13 million worth of USDC.

Key stablecoin issuers, such as Circle and Tether, can restrict token transfers in urgent scenarios or during legal investigations, such as major security breaches.

However, it’s unclear who requested Circle to freeze the tokens, a point currently being disputed online.

Burwick Law, a firm known for its involvement with HAWK memecoin and Pump.fun, claimed that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted its temporary restraining order to freeze the wallets. However, Martin Romeo, a plaintiff in the Argentine Libra token case, stated he and other plaintiffs sought the order through the local justice system.

Circle did not immediately respond to The Block’s request for comment.

The Solana-based memecoin Libra gained widespread attention for its association with Argentinian President Javier Milei — a connection that fueled its meteoric rise which was eventually followed by a collapse in value.

Earlier this year, Milei publicly promoted Libra as a token intended to help small businesses and startups in Argentina, posting a link to the token and its contract address on his social media account. LIBRA’s market cap surged to over $2 billion before quickly reversing course and crashing by more than 90%.

Milei then withdrew his support for the project after the memecoin’s value collapsed, saying he had no advanced knowledge of it and never intended to encourage people to invest. Hayden Davis, CEO of Kelsier Ventures and the alleged advisor to Libra, claimed he paid Milei’s sister to influence the Argentine leader to endorse the project.

Following the collapse, Milei faced fraud charges filed by local lawyers over his involvement in the memecoin, though he has consistently denied any wrongdoing on his part.

Amid an ongoing legal investigation into Milei’s involvement, a local judge requested the unsealing of the president’s and his sister’s bank accounts earlier this month. A few days later, however, Argentina announced that the investigative unit tasked with probing the Libra scandal has been disbanded.