Zama Response to Circle Freezing cUSDC Contract: Legal Team Engaged, Will Soon Restore Compliance Participants' Access

**May 30** — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stated that President Donald Trump will not sign any agreement unless it is favorable to the United States. Austin noted that progress has been made in negotiations with Iran, adding that Trump aims to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. “Our objectives toward Iran remain unchanged,” he emphasized. According to monitoring by PolyBeats via its Telegram bot (t.me/PolyBeats_Bot), prediction market Polymarket puts the probability of a "U.S.-Iran Permanent Peace Agreement" being finalized by May 31 at 3%, with that likelihood rising to 33% by June 30.

On May 30, Kobeissi Letter published a market insight noting that AI is poised to reshape the global labor market. The analysis estimates roughly 24% of global jobs (about 8.38 billion roles) will be impacted by generative AI, with high-income countries facing the highest degree of this disruption. In these nations, around 33% of all employment is at risk, and roughly 6% of positions carry the maximum level of AI-driven replacement risk—typically roles characterized by repetitive, predictable tasks. Regionally, Europe and Central Asia are most severely affected (approximately 32%), followed by the Americas (about 30%), while Africa faces the lowest impact at just 13%. Overall, low-income countries have only one-third the exposure to these shifts compared to high-income nations, marking the onset of the largest labor transformation in modern history.

On May 30, Rand, founder of Zama Protocol, released a new statement regarding the recent freezing of the cUSDC contract. The root cause of the incident has been pinpointed: it is entirely unrelated to Zama or its privacy technology. Instead, the issue stemmed from approximately $12.5 million in USDC deposited by a hacker address linked to Overnight Finance. At the time, this address was not flagged on any sanctions lists and was not detected by KYT (Know Your Transaction) tools. Last night, a U.S. court issued a restraining order to freeze the wallet associated with the hacker. Since over 99% of the funds in the contract originated from this illicit source, the court directly ordered the entire wrapper contract frozen to seize the illegal funds. Zama emphasized that it has always upheld a "compliance with confidentiality" stance and will not tolerate any illegal activities. Currently, the project is in communication with all relevant parties to expedite the unfreezing process. Meanwh

On May 30th, analyst Darkfost noted that since September 2025, stablecoin inflows from Binance’s whale-tier entities have been cut in half—dropping from roughly $62 billion per month to $33 billion—signaling a sharp decline in whale participation in the crypto market. Large stablecoin inflows to trading platforms typically indicate renewed investor interest and an impending asset repricing. Conversely, a pullback in these inflows suggests major capital is exiting the market. Monitoring whale activity remains one of the most reliable methods to gauge crypto market sentiment. Right now, ongoing uncertainty from the U.S.-Iran conflict and its spillover effects makes robust risk management crucial.

May 30: The European Commission projects a new EU-wide tax on crypto firms could pull in roughly €20 billion in fresh revenue for the bloc over the next seven-year budget window spanning 2028 to 2034. Regulators also broke down potential tax streams: a 0.1% levy on crypto transactions would generate about €30 to €40 billion annually, while a tax on crypto capital gains would bring in €10 to €24 billion per year. The proposed crypto tax measures aim to help shore up the EU’s common budget funding, and the plans are now being hammered out in negotiations among EU member states.

On May 30, Polymarket shared its latest weekly update: The World Cup-themed page is now fully developed, complete with a map view, knockout-stage bracket, and real-time leaderboard. It’s currently in final testing and set for an official launch very shortly. Perpetual Perps contracts have officially launched on the mainnet. Initially, they support 5 traditional financial assets and BTC, with plans to add more assets down the line. For technical and developer tools: CLOB order book performance has been significantly optimized, resolving consistency issues while deeper architectural overhauls are slated for next week. The TypeScript and Python SDKs are now open-source, with documentation updated for better clarity. The Unified API has rolled out its first Gamma endpoint, boosting the Gamma system’s high-frequency read path and implementing multiple production environment fixes. Polymarket is keeping up its fast-paced iteration on product features and its broader developer ecosystem.