Circle has frozen $57.6 million in USDC. The funds were held in two wallets associated with the meme coin LIBRA, according to analysts at Arkham.
ALERT: $57M OF USDC ASSOCIATED WITH LIBRA FROZEN BY CIRCLE
Two Libra accounts have just been frozen by Circle, including the Libra deployer wallet.
These accounts contained a combined $57M in USDC which is now immobile. pic.twitter.com/HpmaM5HwVJ
— Arkham (@arkham) May 28, 2025
One address holds $44.59 million in USDC, while the other contains $13 million in USDC.
It remains unclear who requested Circle to freeze the funds. The law firm Burwick Law claims the freeze was ordered by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Incorrect. Yesterday the U.S. District Court (SDNY) granted Burwick Law’s emergency TRO, supported by co-counsel Tim Treanor, freezing ≈ $57.65 M USDC held at Circle.
— Burwick Law (@BurwickLaw) May 28, 2025
Meanwhile, Martin Romeo, the plaintiff in the Argentine LIBRA case, stated that the decision was made by local authorities.
The request was not made by Burkwik Law; it was made by us through the Argentine justice system, which issued a request to the U.S. justice system to ask CIRCLE to freeze the funds. Tomorrow we will publish the documentation.
— Martin Romeo (@MartinRomeo_) May 28, 2025
The meme coin on the Solana blockchain gained notoriety due to its association with Argentine President Javier Milei. Following his public endorsement, the token’s market capitalization exceeded $2 billion, but then plummeted by 94%.
Later, Milei distanced himself from the project. He stated that he had no prior knowledge of LIBRA.
Amid the scandal, the opposition called for the president’s impeachment. Argentina’s chief prosecutor, Eduardo Taiano, demanded the freezing of assets linked to LIBRA worth approximately $100 million and the recovery of deleted messages, including Milei’s tweet.
In April, the Argentine parliament approved an investigation into the role of officials in the meme coin affair.
In May, as part of a civil lawsuit against those involved in the launch of LIBRA, the court ordered banks to disclose account information for Milei and his sister Karina.
Subsequently, the Argentine government disbanded the task force established to investigate the meme coin scandal.