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Drift Secures $147.5 Million From Tether, Drops Circle’s USDC After Massive Exploit
The funding will replace USDC with USDT for settlement and create a recovery token as Drift seeks to repay about $295 million in user losses.
- On Thursday, Drift Protocol announced a $147.5 million recovery plan backed by Tether and partners, switching its Solana settlement layer from USDC to USDT. The package includes $127.5 million from Tether and $20 million from additional partners.
- North Korea-linked hackers drained more than $280 million from Drift in an April 1 exploit, with the protocol's governance token falling approximately 70% afterward. Attackers gained administrative control by pre-signing transactions weeks before executing the breach.
- Gibbs Mura filed a class action against Circle on April 14, alleging the stablecoin issuer failed to freeze stolen USDC during the exploit. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire reportedly described discretionary freezing as a "moral quandary," stating the company requires legal direction to freeze assets.
- Investors responded by swapping USDC for USDT, including Superteam USA lead Nicky Scannella, who swapped $45,000 following the announcement. Drift's governance token surged roughly 20%, reflecting renewed market confidence in the exchange.
- Drift will distribute a new recovery token to affected users and contribute ongoing trading revenue to repay approximately $295 million in losses. The protocol plans full independent audits of each component before relaunching on Solana to ensure future stability.
38 Articles
38 Articles
Tether extends $127.5 million in funding to crypto platform Drift as critics blast rival Circle for failing to freeze hacked funds
Tether has used its hundreds of billions in assets to become many things, including social media investors, data center lenders, and one of the largest holders of U.S. T-bills. But this week, Tether became something else: A crypto startup’s lender of last resort. The stablecoin giant put up $127.5 million in funding—some in loans, some in grants—to aid the recovery of Drift, a Solana-based derivatives exchange that was pilfered for $285 million …
Drift Secures $147.5 Million From Tether, Drops Circle’s USDC After Massive Exploit
Drift Protocol announced Thursday a recovery and relaunch plan backed by a $147.5 million funding package from Tether and partners, replacing Circle’s USDC with Tether’s USDT as its core settlement layer on Solana. The deal includes up to $127.5 million from Tether and $20 million from additional partners, structured as a revenue-linked credit facility designed to gradually repay approximately $295 million in user losses from the April 1 exploit…
Tether and Solana Launch $150 Million Plan to Rescue Drift Protocol Users
Reading Time: 3 minutesKey Takeaways: Tether and the Solana Foundation are providing up to $150 million to help Drift Protocol recover from a massive hack. The recovery plan includes a $100 million credit facility to ensure the platform can safely start again. Affected users will receive recovery tokens that will be paid back using future trading fees. After the relaunch, USDT will become the primary money used for trading on the Drift platform…
The Drift trading protocol had undergone a major hack at the beginning of the month, accusing Circle of not having done enough to block the funds. Consequence: the protocol will now turn to Tether (USDT). Drift Hack article: The company abandons Circle (USDT) to the benefit of Tether (USDT) appeared first on Cryptoast.
Tether and Solana Foundation Rescue Drift Protocol with $150M Credit Line and $20M Grant
Drift Protocol got hit with a $280-285M exploit on April 1, 2026 — largely tied to a sophisticated social engineering attack that compromised multisigs, with North Korean hackers allegedly involved. A big chunk ($232M) moved through USDC via Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP). Circle faced heavy criticism for not freezing the stolen funds quickly, citing […] The post Tether and Solana Foundation Rescue Drift Protocol with $150M Credit…
Analyst Defends Circle's No-Freeze Stance on $280M Drift Hack Funds
The bad press facing stablecoin issuer Circle, following the $280 million exploit on the Solana trading protocol Drift, has gone up a notch after a California-based legal group filed a class action lawsuit against it, alleging it stood by while North Korea-linked hackers moved millions in stolen USDC through the firm’s own bridge, making it liable for investor losses from the attack. However, an analyst just made a case that Circle’s hands-off a…
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