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Drift Protocol was hacked on April 1, 2026, in an attack attributed to a North Korea-linked actor, according to forensic firm Mandiant. The exploit led to the loss of approximately $295 million in user funds, prompting the protocol team to suspend core functions, including trading and lending, to contain the damage.
The majority of the stolen assets have been tracked. Approximately 130,259 ETH, valued at roughly $293 million, remain concentrated in four Ethereum wallets that are being monitored and flagged across exchanges and other entities.
Two transfers executed via Wormhole were held by the Wormhole Governor until late July, blocking approximately 59.37 WBTC and 557.90 WETH.
In addition, three transfers made through Circle’s CCTP protocol were successfully frozen, totaling approximately $3.36 million in USDC. Authorities are working to obtain a seizure order that would allow the funds to be burned and reissued to the protocol.
Drift’s recovery plan centers on compensation tokens backed by the recovery fund. Each affected wallet will receive a recovery token representing one dollar of verified loss, providing a proportional claim on the recovery fund. The recovery token is described as independent of the DRIFT governance token and is transferable as an SPL token on the Solana network.
The recovery fund is expected to be sourced from three streams:
The protocol’s remaining assets, valued at approximately $3.8 million, will be converted to USDT as initial capital. Token redemption is set to open once the fund surpasses $5 million. The plan notes that redeeming before the fund reaches parity would involve forfeiting the right to the remaining balance.
Drift’s relaunch is scheduled for the second quarter of 2026. The exchange plans to focus on perpetual markets and to implement reinforced security measures, including:
Tether will also provide a $20 million market-making facility intended to support liquidity from day one. Key decisions within the plan are expected to be subject to a DAO vote before final implementation.
