Circle squashes rumors of planned SEC enforcement action

USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle has denied rumors that it received a “Wells Notice” over its United States dollar-pegged stablecoin.

On Feb. 14, a now-deleted tweet from Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett claimed Circle had been ordered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to cease the sale of USDC — due to the stablecoin being an unregistered security. 

However, the rumor was swiftly rebuffed by Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy at Circle Pay on Twitter just 15 minutes after Terrett’s tweet, noting his firm has not received a Wells Notice. 

.@circle has not received a Wells notice. https://t.co/lE74zHVLka

— Dante Disparte (@ddisparte) February 14, 2023

In a tweet, Terrett said she “went with the word of several trusted sources” and apologized for the mistake. 

Here is the response from @circle. I went with the word of several trusted sources on this. I apologize for the mistake @ddisparte. https://t.co/NjyD57PDuZ

— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) February 14, 2023

Dante responded to Terrett that her apology is accepted, adding:

“Alas, there is a lot of churn, swirl and rumors informing the market right now.”

The original tweet from Terrett has since been deleted. Her account on Twitter was temporarily deleted but has since returned.