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Stablecoin issuer Tether said Thursday it will contribute up to $127.5 million to a broader $150 million recovery plan for Drift’s Solana perpetuals decentralized exchange, weeks after the protocol suffered an exploit that drained more than $270 million.
Under the plan, the funding is tied to trading activity after Drift’s relaunch, meaning the recovery is designed to unfold as the platform rebuilds volume and revenue rather than functioning as a one-time bailout.
Drift was exploited on April 1, with losses reported at more than $270 million. That event created a gap between what users expected to hold and what the protocol could immediately make whole.
Tether is now anchoring the recovery package with up to $127.5 million, while the total support stack is roughly $150 million. Reports circulating Thursday placed the combined figure between $147.5 million and $150 million, with the consistent theme that Tether would supply the majority of the backstop.
Because the funding is linked to post-relaunch activity, Drift users are offered a recovery path that depends on the market returning to the venue. The approach effectively encourages traders to come back, provide liquidity, and help rebuild trading volume.
The design is intended to reduce the risk of a static subsidy by tying restoration to performance, but it also shifts some execution risk back to market conditions.
Drift’s relaunch includes a strategic shift in settlement assets. The protocol will move its primary settlement asset from USDC to Tether on Solana.
Drift said the change brings more than 128,000 users and 35 ecosystem teams into USDT-based trading flows on Solana. Named counterparties include Gauntlet, Neutral, and M1.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino characterized the deal as confidence in Drift’s role in DeFi and in a recovery model tied to real activity rather than pure subsidy.
In the more skeptical view, the timing could also be seen as Tether gaining strategic influence when Drift is under maximum leverage. The underlying logic remains that Drift needs credibility and a path to restore funds, while Solana perps infrastructure retains value if trust can be rebuilt.
The recovery plan does not erase the scale of the April exploit. Instead, it provides Drift time, capital, and a mechanism intended to draw traders back to the platform.
The plan’s success is framed as dependent on volume, liquidity, and whether users trust the venue again. The bullish case is that returning activity accelerates recovery, while the key risk is that if traders remain sidelined, the activity-linked funding framework loses its engine.
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