Drift Secures $148 Million in Funding from Tether and Partners to Recover from Exploit

Following a significant exploit by a North Korean group, Drift Protocol is set to relaunch using Tether's USDT as its settlement layer after receiving a proposed funding package of up to $147.5 million from Tether and its partners. The package includes $127.5 million from Tether and $20 million from other partners, aiming to support user recovery and reboot the platform as a USDT-based perpetual futures exchange on Solana. Previously, Drift used Circle's USDC as its settlement layer. The rescue package consists of a revenue-linked credit facility, ecosystem grants, and loans to market makers, with a portion of trading revenue and committed capital allocated to a recovery pool to cover approximately $295 million in user losses over time. The funding comes after a North Korea-linked group infiltrated Drift Protocol, resulting in losses exceeding $270 million on April 1. Drift's governance token, DRIFT, has lost around 70% of its value since the exploit. Circle faced criticism for not halting the money transfer after the exploit, allowing the attacker to move about $232 million in USDC from Solana to Ethereum. In contrast, USDT has a history of freezing assets linked to hacks or illicit activities. As the largest decentralized perpetual futures exchange on Solana, Drift has over 175,000 users and $150 billion in cumulative trading volume. The stablecoin market is becoming increasingly competitive, with Circle's USDC gaining share due to regulatory alignment and growing institutional use. With the new funding package, Tether plans to fund fee reductions and user incentives tied to Drift's transition to USDT, while providing liquidity support to market makers. The move positions USDT at the center of Drift's trading infrastructure, enabling the restoration of user funds and the resumption of operations.