News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily News USDC has officially announced the launch of its cross-chain bridge, USDC Bridge. Built and operated by Circle, it supports cross-chain transfers based on a native burn-mint mechanism.According to the announcement, the bridge supports upfront fee display and real-time status tracking, eliminates the need for manual path selection, and can automatically handle destination chain gas fees.
USDC officially announced the launch of the USDC Bridge, built and operated by Circle. It supports cross-chain transfers via a native burn-and-mint mechanism, offers upfront fee visibility and real-time status tracking, eliminates the need for manual route selection, and automatically handles gas fees on the destination chain.
Odaily News Rhea Finance has released a post-mortem report on the attack, confirming that the actual loss from the vulnerability is approximately $18.4 million, a significant increase from the initial estimate of around $7.6 million.The attacker constructed complex transaction paths, manipulated liquidity using fake token pools, funneled borrowed assets into pools under their control, and returned only minimal assets. This caused a large number of margin positions to rapidly become undercollateralized and triggered liquidations, ultimately depleting the protocol's reserve funds.Approximately $11.2 million in funds have been recovered or frozen so far. This includes some USDC and NEAR assets returned by the attacker, as well as about $4.34 million in USDT that was frozen (with assistance from Tether).
Odaily News Circle announced on the X platform that the USDC Bridge bridging service is now officially live. It is reported that this is a method for direct cross-chain transfer of USDC, built and operated by Circle, supporting native burn-to-mint transfers without the need to select a route, and automatically handling gas fees on the destination chain.
According to an official announcement, Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB) launched stablecoin minting and redemption services on April 17. Enterprises and high-net-worth individuals can now directly convert between fiat currency and stablecoins via their SGB accounts, enabling 24/7 instant settlement without relying on traditional correspondent banking processes. This service is integrated into SGB’s proprietary clearing network, SGB Net, supporting seamless on-chain and off-chain fund flows. USDC is the first stablecoin supported, with a minimum transaction amount of USD 100,000; support for USDT, USDe (Ethena), and Global Dollar (USDG) will be rolled out subsequently.
According to an official announcement, Mint Blockchain officially ceased operations on April 17, 2026, and urged users to withdraw four assets from Mint Chain to the Ethereum mainnet: ETH, WBTC, USDC, and USDT. The announcement states that the asset withdrawal deadline is October 20, 2026, and users may complete the process via the official withdrawal channel. Assets not withdrawn by the deadline will no longer be processable.
According to Cointelegraph, stablecoin issuer Circle faces a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts for failing to freeze stolen funds during the Drift Protocol hack on April 1. Plaintiffs allege that attackers transferred approximately $230 million worth of USDC from Solana to Ethereum via Circle’s cross-chain transfer protocol (CCTP) within hours—and that Circle failed to intervene. The lawsuit accuses Circle of aiding and abetting conversion and of negligence. Cryptocurrency analytics firm Elliptic previously suspected the attack may be linked to North Korea–backed hackers; the stolen funds were subsequently converted into ETH and laundered through Tornado Cash.
According to CoinDesk, Drift Protocol—the largest decentralized perpetual futures exchange on Solana—announced it has secured up to $147.5 million in funding from Tether and its partners (including $127.5 million from Tether and $20 million from other partners) following a hack that stole over $270 million. The funds will be used to restore user assets and relaunch the protocol. The attack was carried out on April 1 by a North Korea–linked group that had posed as a quantitative trading firm and infiltrated the protocol for approximately six months, causing the DRIFT token’s value to plummet roughly 70%. The funding structure combines revenue-linked credit, ecosystem subsidies, and market-maker loans, aiming to cover approximately $295 million in user losses. Upon relaunch, the protocol will replace USDC with USDT as its core settlement layer; Tether will simultaneously provide fee waivers, user incentives, and liquidity support.
Odaily News Drift announced on its official website that Drift Protocol has received support from Tether and other partners. Tether intends to contribute $127.5 million, while other partners plan to contribute $20 million, collectively supporting user recovery efforts following the April 1st attack. This support package includes a $100 million revenue-linked credit line, ecosystem grants, and loans provided to market makers. Drift will establish a dedicated user recovery pool, aiming to gradually address the $295 million in outstanding user losses as trading revenue grows. Additionally, Drift will issue independent recovery tokens to affected users, which represent a claim on the recovery pool and are transferable. Drift is currently in the process of restarting the protocol, having engaged Ottersec and Asymmetric for audits, and is migrating its settlement layer from USDC to USDT. The previous attack resulted in the theft of assets worth approximately $295 million, while the insurance fund assets remained unaffected.
According to a CoinGecko report, the cryptocurrency market continued its bearish trend in Q1 2026, with total market capitalization declining by 20.4% (approximately $622 billion) to $2.4 trillion—down roughly 45% from its October 2025 peak. Key drivers of the downturn included tightened monetary policy expectations following Kevin Warsh’s nomination as Federal Reserve Chair and geopolitical shocks stemming from the U.S.-Iran war. The stablecoin market remained broadly stable, with total market capitalization rising slightly to $309.9 billion. USDT’s supply declined for the first time since Q2 2022, falling to $184.1 billion; USDC grew 2.4% to $77.1 billion; and USD1—issued by WLFI—rose 32.5%, boosted by Binance’s airdrop campaign. In terms of asset performance, crude oil prices surged 76.9% due to supply disruptions caused by the U.S.-Iran war, making it the strongest-performing asset this quarter; gold rose 8.1%; while Bitcoin fell 22.0%, underperforming both the Nasdaq (-7.1%) and the S&P 500 (-4.8%). Regarding trading volume, spot trading volume across top centralized exchanges dropped 39.1% to $2.7 trillion; March volume totaled just $0.8 trillion—the lowest since November 2023. Binance maintained a 37.0% market share. Among decentralized exchanges, Solana retained leadership with a 30.6% share—but was overtaken by Ethereum in March.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated that Circle has expanded its collaboration with Dunamu—the operator of Upbit—to support the compliant adoption of digital assets, and broadened its partnership with Bithumb to strengthen stablecoin infrastructure and raise market awareness of stablecoins. Allaire noted that South Korea is rapidly advancing regulation for stablecoins and digital assets, and that local cryptocurrency adoption rates are high. During his time in Seoul, he also met with representatives from KakaoGroup, Coinone, Hashed, Shinhan Bank, KB Financial Group, and Woori Bank.
According to Crowdfund Insider, Circle has launched a new solution for high-frequency cross-chain USDC payments. Developers can leverage the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) to enable local fulfillment providers to front-pay on the recipient’s designated chain, with the platform subsequently performing batch cross-chain settlement. This model reduces operational overhead associated with individual cross-chain transfers and is suitable for platforms processing large volumes of payments daily. Compared to the traditional CCTP process—which requires individual USDC burn-and-mint operations per transfer—the new solution supports batch settlement, reducing the number of burns on the source chain and eliminating the need for signature infrastructure on the destination chain. Circle also demonstrated the workflow using the Arc Testnet and Ethereum Sepolia.
According to DL News, Jeremy Allaire, CEO of stablecoin issuer Circle, stated that the company currently has no plans to launch a Korean won-pegged stablecoin but is closely monitoring legislative developments in South Korea and seeking to expand its business within the local regulatory framework. Should South Korea establish a legal pathway allowing global enterprises to enter the market, Circle would be willing to apply for a license, establish a local branch, and provide technical support to Korean institutions issuing stablecoins.
According to The Block, Brix—a startup focused on tokenizing emerging-market assets—has announced a $5.5 million funding round. Participants include Yapi Kredi’s venture capital arm, FRWRD, IS Asset Management, and crypto investment firms Circle Ventures, ConsenSys, and Borderless Capital. Brix plans to launch on the MegaETH network, aiming to bring traditionally institutional trading strategies—such as Turkish lira arbitrage—on-chain.
According to The Block, renowned startup accelerator Y Combinator has completed its first fully stablecoin investment, paying $500,000 in USDC to prediction market startup Totalis via three on-chain transactions on Solana. The funds are held in custody by Ramp, a financial operations platform. Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan stated that the accelerator will make stablecoin payments available to all YC-backed startups—not limited to crypto-related companies. Totalis plans to use Ramp to execute both stablecoin and fiat transactions simultaneously and to pay credit card bills from its stablecoin account.
According to The Block, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire responded at a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, to criticism over Circle’s decision not to freeze the stolen USDC involved in the Drift incident. He stated that Circle fulfills its legal obligations and freezes wallets only upon instruction from law enforcement agencies or courts; unilaterally freezing assets would constitute a “major ethical dilemma.” He also revealed that Circle is engaging with U.S. legislative bodies regarding the Clarity Act, seeking to establish a “safe harbor” mechanism for stablecoin issuers in extreme circumstances—but emphasized that any such authority must be explicitly granted through legislation, not exercised unilaterally by the company.
Circle has unveiled its 2026 vision for the development of internet finance systems, outlining a strategic focus on building cross-chain interoperability infrastructure, liquidity orchestration capabilities, and institutional-grade asset issuance frameworks to enable efficient value flow across multi-chain ecosystems. Regarding cross-chain infrastructure, Circle stated that it will introduce features such as “Fast Transfer” in the future—enabling sub-second settlement without waiting for source-chain finality—to enhance capital efficiency. At the asset expansion level, the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) will expand beyond USDC to support additional assets—including EURC, USYC, and cirBTC—and facilitate the issuance and circulation of real-world assets (RWAs) across multiple chains. Additionally, Circle is advancing cross-chain process coordination by offering tools such as Bridge Kit, Deposit Kit, Fee Service, and Workflows—streamlining multi-chain operations into “one-click” cross-chain interactions, reducing development complexity, and improving user experience.
Circle Chief Strategy Officer Dante Disparte responded to the major security breach affecting Drift Protocol on April 1, which resulted in over $270 million in stolen funds. He stated that open financial systems must be built upon foundations of legal accountability, shared security, and rules that evolve in real time with emerging threats. Circle freezes USDC funds only when legally required—a measure reflecting its compliance obligations and safeguarding users’ assets and privacy rights. He emphasized that openness and accountability must be balanced, and all participants across the ecosystem—including protocols, wallets, infrastructure providers, exchanges, and stablecoin issuers—must jointly shoulder responsibility for security and accountability. Circle is collaborating with U.S. and international policymakers to advance stablecoin legislation, including the GENIUS Act, to establish a more modern legal framework enabling lawful, rapid intervention against illicit activities while protecting property rights and privacy—ensuring the continued resilience and robust growth of open financial systems.
U.S. law firm Gibbs Mura has launched a class-action litigation investigation into the April 1, 2026, hack of Drift Protocol, reviewing potential investor claims against Circle Internet Financial. The attack resulted in the theft of approximately $280–285 million in assets. The attacker subsequently used Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) to bridge over $230 million worth of USDC to Ethereum—Circle took no action to freeze the funds throughout the incident. Notably, just nine days prior, Circle had voluntarily frozen 16 business wallets in a separate civil dispute. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic suspects the attack was carried out by a North Korea–backed hacking group. As a result of the breach, Drift Protocol’s total value locked (TVL) plummeted from $550 million to below $250 million, the DRIFT token price dropped more than 40%, and at least 20 DeFi protocols suffered indirect losses.
According to Crowdfundinsider, UK-based ClearBank has announced that it has received approval under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and obtained a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) license from the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). The bank plans to launch digital asset services, including stablecoins, and stated it intends to support euro- and U.S. dollar–backed stablecoins—EURC and USDC—to enhance cross-border transfers and payments. Additionally, ClearBank said it will offer savings accounts through Coinbase and bring them under the protection of the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).