According to WuSaid, on-chain detective ZachXBT criticized Circle for not caring about the ecosystem at all and just squeezing profits out of it. They were never blacklisted after the DeFi vulnerability/hack.

Circle took 4.5 months longer than all other major issuers to blacklist funds from the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group. Some critics pointed out that although Tether is often criticized for non-compliance, it has always responded quickly to freezes.