How Solana Trade Drift Plans to Repay Customers After $295 Million Crypto Hack – Decrypt

A month after North Korean-affiliated hackers drained $295 million in person funds from decentralized crypto trade Drift Protocol, the Solana-based platform has launched a detailed restoration plan outlining the way it intends to compensate affected customers and relaunch as a rebuilt, security-focused trade.

The April 1 assault was attributed to a North Korea state-affiliated menace actor, as confirmed by forensic agency Mandiant. Following the exploit, Drift briefly suspended all core protocol capabilities—together with buying and selling and borrowing—to forestall additional unauthorized exercise.

Roughly 130,259 ETH, value roughly $293 million immediately, stays concentrated throughout 4 Ethereum wallets which might be actively monitored and have been flagged throughout exchanges. Two further transfers by way of the Wormhole bridge have been delayed by that protocol’s governor till late July, successfully locking funds in transit. Three stablecoin transfers have additionally been frozen by Circle, totaling $3.36 million value of USDC.

To compensate victims, Drift plans to subject every affected pockets a “restoration token,” the place every token represents $1 of verified loss. A restoration pool can be seeded with the protocol’s remaining property—roughly $3.8 million transformed to stablecoins—and can develop by way of quarterly trade income together with as much as $127.5 million dedicated by stablecoin issuer Tether and as much as $20 million from further strategic companions.

Customers can start redeeming their tokens as soon as the restoration fund exceeds $5 million, although early redemption means forfeiting any future claims on the pool. The pool will continue to grow till whole inflows match the total $295,426,725.97 in exploit losses.

On the safety entrance, Drift says it plans to deploy a wholly new program at a contemporary deal with with absolutely rotated keys, implement timelocks on delicate administrative operations, and take away the durable-nonce assault floor that was central to how the April 1 exploit was executed.

The crew is concentrating on a relaunch in Q2 2026, refocused as a leaner, perps-native trade, with main market makers and a $20 million Tether market-making facility dedicated to offering liquidity from day one. A public bounty program—providing 10% of any efficiently recovered property—has additionally been launched in collaboration with crypto trade Bybit.

“The Drift crew is taking thought of measures to make sure that customers are made complete, and that Drift restores itself because the main perpetuals DEX on Solana,” the trade wrote. “The crew has made inside onerous choices to restructure and function as lean as potential, focusing completely on restoration and relaunch. This may take time however the construction is in place, ecosystem companions are dedicated, and the work is underway.”