Drift, the DeFi platform that lost around $270 million in clients assets to a North Korean hack earlier this month, has secured $147.5 million in funding from Tether and partners to recover user funds and relaunch with the Tether stablecoin at its centre.
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Drift, which was hacked on 1 April, says the Tether-led package is made up of a $100 million revenue-linked credit facility, an ecosystem grant, and loans to market makers, that will fund a dedicated user recovery pool.
The platform will relaunch as a perpetual futures exchange on Solana, with Tether’s USDT stablecoin replacing Circle’s USDC as its settlement layer.
Circle faced criticism in the wake of the hack for failing to do more to prevent the attackers from moving the funds. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that the firm only freezes USDC wallets when told to by law enforcement or courts, an approach that differs to Tether’s.
Drift says that it is undergoing a full protocol reboot ahead of relaunch, with security at the centre and two independent audits taking place to ensure “hardened operational security practices across the entire stack”.
Says the firm on X: “We told our community we would find a path to recovery. This is that path. This is the first step toward making users whole over time and toward building back stronger than where we were before.”
