Solana DEX Drift Protocol Gets $150M Recovery Fund | Solana News

Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) Drift Protocol has shared the extremely anticipated person restoration plan alongside Tether and different collaborators. This transfer follows the main exploit that drained $285 million from the project’s vaults two weeks in the past.

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Drift Protocol Secures $150M Recovery Fund

On Thursday, Drift Protocol, the biggest decentralized perpetual futures exchange on the Solana blockchain, introduced a collaboration with Tether and different companions to ascertain a “structured recovery plan backed by up to nearly $150 million in combined support” and relaunch with USDT “at the center.”

According to the announcement, the funds embrace a $100 million revenue-linked credit line, an ecosystem grant, and loans to market makers, all meant to finance a devoted person restoration pool.

As NewsBTC reported, the Solana-based DEX suffered an exploit that stole a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from its vaults on April 1. The assault took round $285 million in a number of crypto property and have become the biggest exploit of 2026 to this point.

During the initial section of the collaboration, a significant slice of exchange income, along with dedicated assist capital, shall be meant to fund this restoration pool, Drift defined, noting that any stolen funds recovered can be contributed to the pool.

In addition, Drift revealed that it’ll challenge a new token for the affected customers to “streamline distribution of recovery assets as well as provide liquidity opportunities for impacted users.”

The token shall be a devoted restoration token, separate from the DRIFT governance token, that’s meant to signify a declare on the restoration pool and shall be transferable.

Solana DEX Eyes Hardened Security Framework

The Solana-based project shared that it’ll harden its security, passing every part via impartial audits by OtterSec and Asymmetric Research earlier than relaunching the protocol.

It can even introduce a new community-governed multisig to handle core protocol property, requiring all multisig signers to operate on devoted signing units with transaction content material independently verified exterior the first signing interface earlier than any signature is executed.

This goals to stop comparable assaults on the project. It’s price noting that the malicious actors gained unauthorized entry to Drift Protocol by manipulating its multisig approvals utilizing Solana sturdy nonces.

“The attack involved unauthorized or misrepresented transaction approvals obtained prior to execution, likely facilitated through durable nonce mechanisms and sophisticated social engineering,” the project defined on its first report.

Since then, Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has recognized a number of indicators suggesting that the exploit is linked to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), whereas Drift has affirmed that the exploit was a six-month operation to infiltrate the protocol’s internal circle and compromise their units.

USDT Settlements ‘At The Center’ Of Drift

The project additionally detailed that it’ll relaunch with Tether’s USDT for settlements. Tether reportedly proposed to increase a USDT assist facility to designated market makers “to reinforce deep, liquid markets from day one.”

“Drift’s decision to integrate USD₮ into the relaunch and recovery of a major trading venue on Solana reinforces Tether’s role as a reliable settlement asset within the Solana ecosystem,” Tether said.

The shift from USDC to USDT settlement represents a important change, following Circle’s determination to not freeze the stolen USDC during the initial assault.

Notably, the exploiter swapped $270.9 million of the stolen property into USDC within hours, bridged them from Solana to Ethereum by way of the CCTP TokenMessengerMinterV2, and bought 129,000 ETH, splitting them throughout a number of wallets.

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At the time, a number of buyers and on-chain investigators urged Circle to freeze the funds, with crypto sleuth ZachXBT slamming the stablecoin issuer for its repeated “inaction” over the previous few years. Circle has since addressed the backlash, affirming that it doesn’t act “unilaterally or arbitrarily” and freeze funds when “the law requires us to act.”

Drift concluded that “this is the first step toward making users whole over time and toward building back stronger than where we were before.”

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