After the attacks related to Drift, Aave, and Kelp DAO, Circle did not freeze funds transferred from Solana to Ethereum, which then entered Tornado Cash.

Tether, on the other hand, froze approximately $344 million worth of USDT because these funds were allegedly linked to scams, human trafficking, and even Lazarus Group.
This points to an unspoken rule.
Compliant companies may not act proactively during crises; gray-area companies might be more decisive in clear-cut cases.
Circle is an on-chain dollar, backed by a big tree but also shackled.
The real drivers of stablecoin expansion are often not the most conservative financial institutions, but cross-border traders, crypto traders, dollar demanders in developing countries, on-chain financial users, gray but not illegal global capital flows, and entrepreneurs who don’t want to be trapped by traditional banking systems.
This will push the stablecoin market into a more complex stage.
In the future, USD stablecoins are likely to form a pattern similar to 70-20-10:
• Tether dominates global trading, offshore dollars, crypto-native, and emerging market demand
• Circle dominates compliant finance, U.S. institutions, payment networks, and government-friendly scenarios
• Stablecoin-as-a-Service providers like Paxos, Bridge, Zero Hash serve platform clients
Liquidity or legality? Clearly, liquidity is the foundation for survival.