Drift is plotting a comeback. A new recovery plan – anchored by digital asset issuer Tether capital – aims to make users whole while pivoting the exchange toward a USDT-enshrined future.
• Recent Exploit: On April 1, Solana-based perpetuals protocol was victimized by a major hack that drained ~$280M of user funds, the result of a months-long social engineering and infiltration campaign, likely involving fake counterparties, compromised contributor devices, and frozen protocol functions.
• Circle Backlash: Drift's exploiters successfully a majority bridged of their ~$280M theft using Circle's CCTP infrastructure, cashing out their ill-gotten gains over the course of multiple hours amid public cries for intervention. Many within the crypto industry voiced frustration over the complete absence of intervention from USDC issuer in the aftermath.
• Recovery Plans: To support Drift, Tether and unnamed partners have proposed a nearly $150M backstop to begin "a path to user recovery." The funds encompass a $100M revenue-linked credit facility, an ecosystem grant, and loans to market makers, designed to fund a dedicated user recovery pool. Posting to X, Drift claims that "a substantial portion of exchange revenue, together with committed support capital, is intended to fund this dedicated user recovery pool."
• New Token: In addition to its user recovery pool, Drift will issue a transferable token to users impacted by the April 1 exploit, additional details for which are expected to be provided at a future date.
• USDT Pivot: Part remedy to the Circle backlash and part favor to its newest backer, Drift will relaunch as a USDT-based perpetuals DEX on Solana, with Tether supplying liquidity support and user incentives.