Circle has refuted allegations related to terrorist financing and denies ties to crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun or his associated companies, including Tron (TRX) and HTX (formerly Huobi).
In a letter to Senators Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren, Dante Disparte, Circle’s Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy, stated that the Campaign for Accountability’s (CfA) claims that the stablecoin company’s USDC was involved in the financing of crypto terror “were full of errors, omissions and misleading information.”
Distances themselves from the sun
Circle explicitly stated that it does not bank Sun and its companies, including HTX and Tron Foundation.
The USDC stablecoin issuer made it clear that it had already terminated all accounts linked to Sun in February, despite no specific designation from the US government.
Circle’s position follows recent reports that the Tron blockchain was increasingly used to fund terrorist activities and organizations.
However, Sun defended the blockchain, saying it has a similar decentralized structure to Bitcoin and Ethereum. He added that the network was “committed to combating terrorist financing by integrating various analysis projects and partners.”
Promote regulatory compliance
Circle further argued that it does not directly or indirectly support or finance illegal actors such as Hamas, and stressed that it complies with necessary financial laws.
“Circle is subject to multiple regulatory regimes – including the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and applicable anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism laws – and has strongly advocated for a comprehensive federal prudential regulatory regime in the United States States,” Disparte wrote.
Disparte pointed to the company’s efforts to combat illegal financing by working with regulators in several countries, including the US and Israel, to prevent unauthorized use of its stablecoin.
Disparte noted that Circle has also led efforts for a comprehensive federal framework for managing stablecoins. He added:
“Circle has consistently called for federal prudential regulation of stablecoins to ensure that every issuer must meet the highest standards of reserve, redemption, disclosure, liquidity and operational risk management”