Drift

Solana

DeFi

April

Phoenix

<p>April 2026 has shown the persistent vulnerabilities in the crypto sector, especially in <a href="https://blockchainreporter.net/defi-decentralized-finance/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">decentralized finance (DeFi)</a>. As a result, the month has recorded major exploits targeting Drift Protocol and KelpDAO. As per the data from Phoenix Group, these exploits have shaken the wider DeFi market and investor confidence. At the same time, the incidents also indicate the growing sophistication of the methods that the exploiters use to target the DeFi platforms.</p>
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   <p>BIGGEST CRYPTO EXPLOITS OF APRIL<br><br>April was marked by a wave of major crypto exploits:<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DriftProtocol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">#DriftProtocol</a><br><br>Exploit date: April 1, 2026<br>Amount lost: $285M<br><br>The attack relied on social engineering to compromise multisig governance and used Solana’s durable nonces to pre-sign admin… <a href="https://t.co/YpF63bmaaE" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">pic.twitter.com/YpF63bmaaE</a></p>— PHOENIX – Crypto News &amp; Analytics (@pnxgrp) <a href="https://twitter.com/pnxgrp/status/2046559705250586630?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">April 21, 2026</a>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="drift-protocol-starts-april-2026-with-285m-loss-with-latest-exploit">Drift Protocol Starts April 2026 with $285M Loss with Latest Exploit</h2>
<p>Drift Protocol, which is an open-sourced and decentralized exchange developed on the Solana blockchain, commenced its April journey with a notable exploit. Hence, on the 1st of April, the exploiter took away $285M from Drift Protocol. For this purpose, the attacker leveraged social engineering techniques.</p>
<p>Particularly, the exploiter compromised Drift Protocol’s multisig governance. In addition to this, the hacker also utilized the durable nonces of Solana to reportedly pre-sign admin transactions weeks ahead of the exploit. This permitted the attacker to circumvent security as well as execute the respective attack within minutes.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="kelpdao-sees-biggest-defi-exploit-of-april-with-loss-of-293m">KelpDAO Sees Biggest DeFi Exploit of April with Loss of $293M</h2>
<p>According to Phoenix Group, <a href="https://kerneldao.com/kelp/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">KelpDAO</a> experienced the biggest DeFi exploit in the crypto sector in April. Specifically, on the 18th of this month, the popular liquid restaking platform went through a $293M drainage, with the attacker tricking the cross-chain messaging layer of the platform. Thus, it made the messaging layer believe the arrival of a valid instruction from another ecosystem.</p>
<p>As a result, due ot this, the $rsETH bridge of KelpDAO released 116,500 $rsETH to the address controlled by the attacker. Many market onlookers associate the attack with the notorious hacking group of North Korea, Lazarus Group. Overall, these DeFi exploits have substantially impacted the crypto market, displaying the requirement for more efficient security solutions.</p>

Drift Protocol and KelpDAO Lead April 2026’s Biggest DeFi Exploits

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