Drift Protocol Secures $147 Million Post-Cyberattack Relaunch

Severity: High (Score: 72.0)

Sources: www.drift.trade, Pymnts, Uk.Finance.Yahoo

Summary

Drift Protocol, a decentralized finance platform, was hacked in early April 2026, resulting in the theft of approximately $295 million in user funds. The attack was attributed to a group linked to North Korea, which exploited Circle's USDC cross-chain transfer protocol to move stolen assets. Following the incident, Drift suspended its operations and has since secured $147.5 million in funding from Tether to facilitate a relaunch. The new funding will support a user recovery pool aimed at addressing outstanding losses. Drift plans to use Tether's USDT stablecoin as its new settlement layer, replacing Circle's USDC. The company is collaborating with law enforcement and blockchain forensics to recover stolen assets. Tether's proactive approach contrasts with Circle's policy of freezing funds only under legal orders. Drift is also implementing enhanced security measures and independent audits before relaunching its platform. Key Points: • Drift Protocol lost approximately $295 million due to a cyberattack linked to North Korea. • The platform is relaunching with $147.5 million in funding from Tether, using USDT for transactions. • Circle faced criticism for not freezing stolen USDC funds during the exploit.

Key Entities

• Data Breach (attack_type)
• Drift (campaign)
• Drift Protocol (company)
• Ethereum (company)
• North Korea (country)
• Financial (industry)
• Solana (platform)