Velocity DEX Relaunches After $280 Million Hack Linked to Lazarus Group

Drift Protocol has rebranded as Velocity DEX following a significant exploit on April 1, 2026, where over $280 million was stolen. The attack was attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group, which compromised multisig wallets and executed 31 transactions in approximately 12 minutes. The platform has been offline since the incident, affecting 11 DeFi protocols, including Pyra and DeFi Carrot. To support the relaunch, Tether has provided a $127.5 million credit line, and the platform will transition from USDC to USDT as its core stablecoin. A recovery token system has been established for affected users, but tokens can only be redeemed once a recovery pool of $5 million is reached. Currently, the total value locked in the protocol is around $217 million, significantly down from over $550 million prior to the exploit.

Key Points: • Velocity DEX rebranded from Drift Protocol after a $280 million exploit linked to Lazarus Group. • Tether provided a $127.5 million credit line, and USDT will replace USDC as the main stablecoin. • A recovery token system for affected users requires a $5 million pool to enable token redemption.