News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily News Drift announced on its official website that Drift Protocol has received support from Tether and other partners. Tether intends to contribute $127.5 million, while other partners plan to contribute $20 million, collectively supporting user recovery efforts following the April 1st attack. This support package includes a $100 million revenue-linked credit line, ecosystem grants, and loans provided to market makers. Drift will establish a dedicated user recovery pool, aiming to gradually address the $295 million in outstanding user losses as trading revenue grows. Additionally, Drift will issue independent recovery tokens to affected users, which represent a claim on the recovery pool and are transferable. Drift is currently in the process of restarting the protocol, having engaged Ottersec and Asymmetric for audits, and is migrating its settlement layer from USDC to USDT. The previous attack resulted in the theft of assets worth approximately $295 million, while the insurance fund assets remained unaffected.
According to The Block, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire responded at a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, to criticism over Circle’s decision not to freeze the stolen USDC involved in the Drift incident. He stated that Circle fulfills its legal obligations and freezes wallets only upon instruction from law enforcement agencies or courts; unilaterally freezing assets would constitute a “major ethical dilemma.” He also revealed that Circle is engaging with U.S. legislative bodies regarding the Clarity Act, seeking to establish a “safe harbor” mechanism for stablecoin issuers in extreme circumstances—but emphasized that any such authority must be explicitly granted through legislation, not exercised unilaterally by the company.
Circle Chief Strategy Officer Dante Disparte responded to the major security breach affecting Drift Protocol on April 1, which resulted in over $270 million in stolen funds. He stated that open financial systems must be built upon foundations of legal accountability, shared security, and rules that evolve in real time with emerging threats. Circle freezes USDC funds only when legally required—a measure reflecting its compliance obligations and safeguarding users’ assets and privacy rights. He emphasized that openness and accountability must be balanced, and all participants across the ecosystem—including protocols, wallets, infrastructure providers, exchanges, and stablecoin issuers—must jointly shoulder responsibility for security and accountability. Circle is collaborating with U.S. and international policymakers to advance stablecoin legislation, including the GENIUS Act, to establish a more modern legal framework enabling lawful, rapid intervention against illicit activities while protecting property rights and privacy—ensuring the continued resilience and robust growth of open financial systems.
U.S. law firm Gibbs Mura has launched a class-action litigation investigation into the April 1, 2026, hack of Drift Protocol, reviewing potential investor claims against Circle Internet Financial. The attack resulted in the theft of approximately $280–285 million in assets. The attacker subsequently used Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) to bridge over $230 million worth of USDC to Ethereum—Circle took no action to freeze the funds throughout the incident. Notably, just nine days prior, Circle had voluntarily frozen 16 business wallets in a separate civil dispute. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic suspects the attack was carried out by a North Korea–backed hacking group. As a result of the breach, Drift Protocol’s total value locked (TVL) plummeted from $550 million to below $250 million, the DRIFT token price dropped more than 40%, and at least 20 DeFi protocols suffered indirect losses.