# Tether Leads $150M Drift Post-Hack Recovery Effort

*Author: Jack Inabinet*
*Published: Apr 16, 2026*
*Source: https://www.bankless.com/de/read/news/tether-partners-pledges-150m-to-support-drift-protocols-recovery*

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Drift is plotting a comeback. A new recovery plan – anchored by digital asset issuer Tether capital – could help make users partially whole while pivoting the exchange toward a USDT-enshrined future.

### What's the Scoop?
- **Recent Exploit:** On April 1, Solana-based perpetuals protocol was victimized by a major hack that drained ~$280M of user funds, the [result](https://www.bankless.com/read/circle-fallout) of a months-long social engineering and infiltration campaign, likely involving fake counterparties, compromised contributor devices, and frozen protocol functions.
- **Circle Backlash:** Drift's exploiters successfully a majority bridged of their ~$280M theft using Circle's CCTP infrastructure, cashing out their ill-gotten gains over the course of multiple hours amid [public cries](https://x.com/mert/status/2039391215284519045) for intervention. Many within the crypto industry voiced frustration over the complete absence of intervention from USDC issuer in the aftermath.
- **Recovery Plans: **To support Drift, Tether and unnamed partners have proposed a nearly $150M backstop to begin "a path to user recovery." The funds encompass a $100M revenue-linked credit facility, an ecosystem grant, and loans to market makers, designed to fund a dedicated user recovery pool. Posting to X, Drift [claims](https://x.com/DriftProtocol/status/2044765314374627575?s=20) that "a substantial portion of exchange revenue, together with committed support capital, is intended to fund this dedicated user recovery pool."
- **New Token:** In addition to its user recovery pool, Drift will issue a transferable token to users impacted by the April 1 exploit, additional details for which are expected to be provided at a future date.
- **USDT Pivot:** Part remedy to the Circle backlash and part favor to its newest backer, Drift will relaunch as a USDT-based perpetuals DEX on Solana, with Tether supplying liquidity support and user incentives.

> Today, Drift is announcing a collaboration with [@tether](https://twitter.com/tether?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) and other partners totaling up to nearly $150 million to support our commitment to a relaunch with USDT at the center, and a path to user recovery.These funds encompass a $100M revenue-linked credit facility, an ecosystem…— Drift (@DriftProtocol) [April 16, 2026](https://twitter.com/DriftProtocol/status/2044765309454721294?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)