Solana’s biggest decentralized perpetuals exchange, Drift protocol, is fighting its way back after a massive hack that drained roughly $285 million from user vaults.
Platform shifts from USDC to USDT
Drift protocol revealed a $150 million recovery package led by Tether, paired with a full switch from Circle’s USDC to Tether’s USDT as the platform’s core settlement asset.
Tether is putting up to $127.5 million on the table, with other partners adding another $20 million. The plan includes a $100 million revenue-linked credit facility, ecosystem grants, and loans to market makers. Instead of a simple cash handout, the structure ties recovery directly to the platform’s future trading activity; a portion of exchange revenue will flow into a dedicated user recovery pool alongside the committed capital.
Any stolen funds recovered through law enforcement efforts or blockchain forensics will also feed that pool. To give affected users something they can actually use or trade in the meantime, Drift will issue a new, transferable recovery token representing claims on the pool.
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, said that the collaboration reflects the company’s confidence in Drift and its role in the DeFi ecosystem. He added that the focus is on restoring user confidence and supporting a strong relaunch, with a structure designed to align recovery with real activity and long-term growth.
Hack traced to long-term infiltration
The April 1 attack was no quick smash-and-grab. Blockchain analysts linked it to North Korean state-backed actors who spent roughly six months infiltrating the protocol.
They acted like a quantitative trading company and built trust through conferences and meetings in person. To get important people to agree to bad deals, they used social engineering methods like a malicious TestFlight app and VSCode vulnerabilities.
The exploit itself was over in minutes, with attackers draining vaults holding USDC, SOL, JLP, and other assets. The insurance fund stayed untouched, but user losses were massive. Circle drew heavy criticism after the hackers moved around $232 million in stolen USDC from Solana to Ethereum via its cross-chain transfer protocol.
The company later explained it only freezes assets when directed by law enforcement or courts, not in real time during incidents, a stance that drew sharp contrast with Tether’s more agile history of blacklisting illicit wallets.
Drift isn’t rushing back online. Before relaunch, every part of the protocol will go through fresh independent audits by OtterSec and Asymmetric Research. The team is also adding a community-governed multisig for core assets, with strict rules: signers must use dedicated hardware devices and verify transaction details outside the main interface.
Tether will provide additional USDT liquidity support to designated market makers to ensure deep order books from day one. The company is also expected to fund fee discounts and user incentives to smooth the transition to USDT.
Stablecoin rivalry heats up as Drift backs USDT
The move from USDC to USDT brings more than 128,000 users and over 35 ecosystem teams, including Gauntlet, Neutral, and M1, onto Tether’s stablecoin for trading and settlement. For Drift, which has handled roughly $150 billion in cumulative volume since launching in 2021 and serves over 175,000 users, this positions USDT as the central settlement layer on one of Solana’s leading perps venues.
The timing also highlights the intensifying “stablecoin war.” While USDC has been gaining ground with institutions thanks to its regulatory alignment, USDT still dominates by supply and has shown itself to be quicker to act in crises.
Drift’s co-founders have emphasized that the protocol’s core technology and team remain strong. The revenue-linked recovery model, they say, gives users a real path forward as the platform rebuilds trading activity.
The DRIFT token took a heavy hit after the exploit (down around 70% at one point), but the market will now watch closely to see whether this structured recovery, and the high-profile switch to USDT, can bring users, liquidity, and confidence back to the platform.
