The package includes a $100 million revenue-linked credit facility from Tether, alongside an ecosystem grant and loans to market makers.
Crypto News
Drift Protocol has secured a proposed recovery package of up to $127.5 million from Tether, the Solana-based trading platform disclosed Thursday. The funds are intended to compensate users affected by its April 1 exploit. An additional $20 million from other partners brings total proposed support to approximately $147.5 million.
The package includes a $100 million revenue-linked credit facility from Tether, alongside an ecosystem grant and loans to market makers. All funds will be directed into a dedicated recovery pool. That pool is designed to cover roughly $295 million in outstanding user losses as exchange revenue accumulates and recovered assets are returned to it over time.
Drift will issue a separate recovery token to distribute claims among affected users. The token is distinct from the platform's DRIFT governance asset. It will represent a proportional claim on the recovery pool and is intended to be transferable, giving users access to liquidity before the pool is fully replenished.
The relaunch will include a shift in Drift's settlement layer from USDC to USDT. Tether will provide market-making support to ensure liquidity at launch. The switch follows a public dispute in which blockchain investigator ZachXBT criticized Circle for not freezing USDC linked to the exploit promptly enough. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire later described the decision as a "moral quandary."
Drift initially reported losses of at least $200 million before revising the figure to around $280 million. Later analysis attributed the breach to a sophisticated administrative takeover. The platform said the operation was carried out over several months through social engineering, with suspected North Korean actors identified as responsible. A breakdown in Thursday's update shows nearly $296 million in assets were withdrawn across multiple token types, with the largest share tied to Drift's JLP liquidity pool.
Drift said it is working with law enforcement and blockchain forensics firms to trace the stolen funds. Any assets recovered will be returned to the recovery pool. The relaunch will require two independent security audits and will introduce a new multisig structure along with enforced delays on critical administrative actions. The platform confirmed that its insurance fund, used to cover trading-related losses, was not affected by the exploit and remains intact.
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