Circle Explores Rollback Option For Stablecoin Transfers

Circle CRCL, the company behind USD Coin and the world's second-biggest stablecoin player, is floating an idea that could shake up crypto's founding principles. The firm is exploring whether stablecoin transactions could, in rare cases, be rolled back to protect users from fraud or hacks.

Circle president Heath Tarbert told the Financial Times the company is wrestling with the tension between offering instant, final settlement and building in some kind of safety net. We are thinking through whether there's the possibility of reversibility of transactions, he said, while stressing that settlement finality remains key. Developers are already discussing whether certain blockchains could allow reversals if all parties involved agreed.

That kind of shift would be a sharp break from crypto's traditional immutability, the idea that once a transaction is recorded on the blockchain, it can never be undone.

Circle, which has $74 billion of USDC in circulation, is also testing a new institutional blockchain called Arc. Shares have been on a tear since its $1.1 billion IPO in June, climbing more than 324% this year.