{"id":12534,"date":"2025-05-29T02:55:32","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T00:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/?p=12534"},"modified":"2025-05-29T02:55:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T00:55:32","slug":"us-court-freezes-57-million-in-usdc-tied-to-libra-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/us-court-freezes-57-million-in-usdc-tied-to-libra-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"US Court Freezes $57 Million in USDC Tied to LIBRA Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A United States federal court has halted approximately $57.65 million in the stablecoin USDC as part of a class action lawsuit concerning the contentious Libra memecoin.<\/p>\n

Onchain information<\/a> provided<\/a> to Cointelegraph by the attorney for the class group, Max Burwick, indicates that nearly $57 million in USDC (USDC<\/a>) was frozen on May 28 after a Manhattan court sanctioned a temporary freeze.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday, a federal court in SDNY [Southern District of New York] approved a Temporary Restraining Order at our request, Burwick Law, with assistance from Tim Treanor, freezing roughly 57.65 million USDC maintained at Circle,\u201c Burwick stated to Cointelegraph.<\/p>\n

He further noted that the court is set to conduct a hearing on June 9 to assess whether the assets will continue to remain frozen as the class action lawsuit moves forward.<\/p>\n

Burwick is representing Omar Hurlock and other claimants in a class-action lawsuit against the crypto venture firm Kelsier Ventures<\/a> and its three associated co-founders, Gideon, Thomas and Hayden Davis, filed on March 17, accusing them of creating the Libra (LIBRA) cryptocurrency and deceiving investors to extract over $100 million<\/a> from unbalanced liquidity pools.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit also implicated blockchain infrastructure companies, KIP Protocol and its CEO, Julian Peh, along with Meteora and its co-founder, Benjamin Chow, as defendants.<\/p>\n

Chow\u2019s attorney, Kelsier Ventures, and KIP Protocol were approached for comments.<\/p>\n

LIBRA achieved a $4 billion market capitalization following an X post from Argentine President Javier Milei on Feb. 14 before plummeting 94%<\/a> hours later.<\/p>\n

This incident triggered a political debacle for Milei, leading members of Argentina\u2019s opposition party to call for his impeachment,<\/a> though minimal traction was achieved beyond those declarations.<\/p>\n

Data from the polling platform Zuban C\u00f3rdoba in March implied that the Libra controversy adversely affected Milei\u2019s reputation<\/a> and the national approval rating for governance.<\/p>\n

Two Solana wallets<\/a> with combined USDC<\/a> balances valued at $57.65 million were frozen on May 28 at 3:15 am and 3:18 am UTC.<\/p>\n

Information from Solana\u2019s blockchain explorer, Solscan, reveals that the\u00a0address<\/a>\u00a0\u201c3Fwr\u2026ZQpK\u201d had $44.59 million worth of the stablecoin frozen, while slightly over $13 million was halted from the wallet address<\/a>\u00a0\u201c3nHw\u2026xNgH.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both wallets were seized by the Multisig Freeze Authority, according to Solscan data.<\/p>\n

Milei shuts down Libra investigation in Argentina<\/h2>\n

On May 19, Milei executed a decree to dismantle a task force set up to probe the Libra scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related: <\/strong><\/em>Solana may be a memecoin \u2018one-trick pony\u2019 \u2014 Standard Chartered<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

No measures<\/a> were taken against Milei or any other Argentine officials allegedly associated with the scandal.<\/a><\/p>\n

Nonetheless, some critics argue that a genuine investigation was not adequately performed from the outset.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always a sham, they never dared to look into anything at all, and they\u2019re covering each other up because they\u2019re entirely involved in it,\u201d Itai Hagman, an economist and member of the Chamber of Deputies of Argentina, mentioned<\/a> in a May 20 X post.<\/p>\n

Magazine: <\/strong><\/em>Memecoins are dead \u2014 But Solana \u2018100x better\u2019 despite revenue decline<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n