insurance

Drift

April

ZachXBT

USDC

Fifteen days ago, North Korean operatives drained $295 million from Drift Protocol in twelve minutes. Today, <a href="https://www.drift.trade/updates/incident-recovery-update-april-16-2026-now" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Drift published its first credible answer</a> for affected users – and the company backing it is Tether.
In a recovery update published April 16, Drift announced a collaboration with Tether and other partners to address the $295 million in outstanding user losses. Tether is proposed to contribute up to $127.5 million. Additional partners will contribute up to $20 million. The structure includes a $100 million revenue-linked credit facility, an ecosystem grant, and loans to market makers.
The gap between what is committed and what is owed is still $147.5 million. Users are betting on Drift’s future revenue to close it.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-drift-protocol-recovery-token-how-affected-users-get-paid-back">Drift Protocol Recovery Token: How Affected Users Get Paid Back</h2>
Drift will issue a dedicated recovery token to every user impacted by the April 1 exploit. The token is separate from the DRIFT governance token and represents a claim on the recovery pool. Critically, it is transferable – meaning users who cannot wait for the pool to fill can sell their claim.
As <a href="https://coinpedia.org/news/if-smart-contracts-are-getting-safer-why-is-crypto-still-losing-450m-to-hacks/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">stolen funds are recovered</a> through law enforcement and blockchain forensics work, those assets will also be added to the pool.
Read More: <a href="https://coinpedia.org/news/if-smart-contracts-are-getting-safer-why-is-crypto-still-losing-450m-to-hacks/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">If Smart Contracts Are Getting Safer, Why Is Crypto Still Losing $450M to Hacks?</a>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-drift-drops-usdc-for-usdt-the-real-message-to-circle">Drift Drops USDC for USDT: The Real Message to Circle</h2>
When Drift relaunches, it will settle in USDT instead of USDC.
The timing is pointed. After the April 1 hack, Circle’s CEO cited a <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/circle-ceo-defends-response-drift-190926732.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">“moral quandary”</a> when asked why the company did not freeze the $71 million in stolen USDC as it was bridged from Solana to Ethereum. ZachXBT publicly called out the inaction.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter">
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 1/ Welcome to the Circle <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24USDC&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$USDC</a> files. $420M+ in alleged compliance failures since 2022, including fifteen cases of the US-regulated stablecoin issuer taking minimal action against illicit funds. <a href="https://t.co/OiWZz5MrVM" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">pic.twitter.com/OiWZz5MrVM</a>— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) <a href="https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/2040055757211885953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">April 3, 2026</a>
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Now, Tether – whose own stablecoin was among the assets stolen in the hack – becomes Drift’s settlement layer and market-making backer at relaunch.
No official statement has called it a rebuke. The decision speaks for itself.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-drift-is-rebuilding-itself">How Drift Is Rebuilding Itself</h2>
Drift is replacing its system.
Two independent audits are required before relaunch: one from Ottersec, one from Asymmetric. A new community-governed multisig will replace the existing structure, with timelocks enforced on all critical administrative actions. Durable nonces, a key vector in the April 1 attack, are being disabled for all signers. All multisig signers will operate on dedicated signing devices.
Every specific failure from April 1 is being addressed directly.
The $295 million total loss breaks down across 19 asset types. JLP alone accounted for $159 million – more than half. USDC was second at $71 million.
The insurance fund was unaffected. All insurance fund depositors’ assets remain intact and will be accessible at relaunch.

Tether Commits $127.5M to Drift Protocol Post Hack: How Will Affected Users Get Paid?

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