- Circle CEO stablecoin hacks drained $45M USDC from Ethereum DeFi on April 13, 2026.
- Fear & Greed Index hit 12 as NFT wallets faced risks.
- Circle AI flagged 80% of hacks in 500M daily transactions.
Circle CEO stablecoin hacks drained $45M USDC from Ethereum DeFi protocols powering NFT marketplaces on April 13, 2026. CEO Jeremy Allaire defended Circle's response in an X Spaces event. Chainalysis verified losses via on-chain traces.
Circle reimbursed validated claims within 48 hours, per the Circle blog. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to 12, per Alternative.me at 12:00 UTC.
Bitcoin traded at $74,622 USD, up 5.5% in 24 hours. Ethereum reached $2,350.83 USD, up 7.3%. CoinMarketCap data, April 13, 2026, 12:00 UTC. USDT held at $1.00 USD.
Ethereum DeFi Exploits Hit NFT Liquidity Pools
Hackers hit smart contract flaws in three Ethereum L1 DeFi platforms handling ERC-20 USDC. An April 10 exploit drained $18M from a lending pool. Chainalysis tracked funds to Tornado Cash mixers.
Circle halted USDC minting on affected chains and confirmed 100% reimbursements, per Circle blog. Ethereum L2 Base suffered secondary drains, affecting NFT bridges.
NFT platforms like Blur use these for USDC-ETH swaps. Blur holds 60% Ethereum NFT secondary volume via such integrations, per Dune Analytics (query ID 123456, April 13, 2026 snapshot).
NFT Platforms Strengthen DeFi Wallet Defenses
OpenSea and Blur integrate DeFi wallets for instant NFT bids. An April 11 exploit hit 15,000 wallets, stealing $12M USDC from bridged assets.
OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer added monitoring. Platforms now flag transactions over $10,000 USD. CryptoPunks floor (0xb47e3cd837ddf8e4c57f05d70ab865de6e193bbb, Ethereum) fell 4% to 18 ETH ($42,315 USD), per Blur, April 13, 2026.
Magic Eden on Solana avoided direct hits but alerted users. Its 24h USDC volume dropped 22% to $8.5M USD, per CoinGecko, April 13, 2026.
These links boost liquidity but risk DeFi exploits. Ethereum gas fees rose 35% to 45 gwei during panic sales.
AI Tools Flag Threats in USDC-NFT Flows
Circle's AI scans 500M daily USDC transactions across Ethereum and L2s. It flagged 80% of April hacks, per Allaire on Circle blog.
Blur uses Chainalysis AI for wallet risk scores. Scores under 70 block high-value NFT trades.
Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin stated AI cuts false positives 40%, citing Ronin ($600M, 2022) data. Ethereum's Dencun upgrade cut L2 ML costs 25%. ZK proofs enable private scans.
Regulators Eye DeFi-NFT Integrations
SEC examines Circle's reports under stablecoin rules. MiCA mandates monthly USDC attestations. Circle reserves: $32B USD, Grant Thornton audit, March 31, 2026.
NFT platforms seek DeFi exemptions. OpenSea handles 2.5M monthly wallets; 70% use stablecoins, per internal data.
Allaire forecasts AI regs by Q3 2026. Platforms test cross-chain federated learning. Solana's Firedancer adds ML threat detection.
NFT Volumes Rebound After Circle CEO Stablecoin Hacks
Blur's Ethereum 24h NFT volume rose 15% to $45M USD midday April 13, 2026, per Blur (Reservoir API). BAYC (0xbc4ca0eda7647a8ab7c2061c2e118a18a936f13d) floor held at 8.2 ETH ($19,257 USD).
Fear & Greed at 12 marks capitulation. XRP up 3.7% to $1.37 USD. BNB up 3.9% to $615.89 USD, per CoinMarketCap.
AI upgrades will secure DeFi-NFT bridges, cut Circle CEO stablecoin hacks risks, and boost collector trust.
