Drift Protocol Secures $148-150M Funding from Tether to Recover Assets and Relaunch on Solana

Drift Protocol has secured nearly $150 million in funding from Tether and strategic partners to recover assets lost in a major April exploit and to relaunch as a USDT-based decentralized exchange (DEX) on Solana, according to multiple reports. The attack drained up to $285 million from the platform, causing a substantial drop in its total value locked. The funding aims to recover more than $270 million in client assets and rebuild user trust.

The capital injection includes a $100 million credit facility and a recovery pool backed by exchange revenues, as outlined by BeInCrypto. This financial support is paired with plans for enhanced security measures and comprehensive security audits before relaunch. Tether has also planned to shift Drift’s stablecoin usage from Circle’s USDC to its own USDT, a move driven partly by backlash over how the exploit involved Circle’s cross-chain transfer protocols, Decrypt reports.

Tether’s commitment is valued at approximately $127.5 to $150 million, with slight discrepancies reported by DL News and Cointelegraph. The arrangement includes launching a new special-purpose token for affected users to regain part of their lost funds, while the platform prepares to strengthen its security frameworks to prevent future breaches. The exploit is suspected to have connections with North Korean-linked hackers, according to BeInCrypto.

Following the exploit, Drift announced abandoning Circle’s USDC stablecoin due to vulnerabilities exposed during the hack. The decision aims to reduce dependency on cross-chain mechanisms that facilitated the stolen funds' movement, as noted by Decrypt. Drift’s relaunch as a USDT-based perpetuals DEX on Solana marks a strategic pivot in response to the incident.

Looking ahead, the industry will closely follow Drift’s recovery progress, including the effectiveness of the new security protocols and the broader impact of switching to USDT. Completion of the security audits and successful asset recovery will be critical milestones to restore confidence among users and partners. Market participants will also watch regulatory responses to large-scale DeFi exploits and the evolving relationships between stablecoin issuers and decentralized protocols.