Drift Protocol secures nearly $150M in recovery funding from Tether and partners as it drops USDC for USDT
Tether steps in with a substantial fund to help Drift Protocol users recover from recent exploit losses.
Share
Add us on Google by Vivian Nguyen Apr. 16, 2026Tether will inject up to $127.5 million into Drift Protocol as part of a recovery plan totaling nearly $150 million following the platform’s recent exploit that led to about $285 million in user losses, the company announced Thursday.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino hinted at the bailout earlier today.
Today will be a good day for DeFi
— Paolo Ardoino 🤖 (@paoloardoino) April 16, 2026
In a separate statement, Ardoino said Tether’s role in the digital asset ecosystem is to support the industry during periods of stress, describing it as stepping forward in “moments of darkness.” The move targets restoring user confidence through a relaunch tied to real activity and long-term growth.
“This collaboration reflects our confidence in Drift and its role in the DeFi ecosystem,” Ardoino stated. “The focus is on restoring user confidence and supporting a strong relaunch, with a structure that aligns recovery with real activity and long-term growth.”
The structure ties repayments to ongoing trading activity, with platform revenues contributing to user recovery as operations resume. Further funding will be deployed gradually and linked to performance, aligning recovery with usage rather than upfront capital injections.
Drift also plans to shift its settlement assets from USDC to USDT as part of the relaunch, onboarding more than 128,000 users and ecosystem participants. The move is expected to increase liquidity and reinforce USDT’s role in the Solana-based trading infrastructure.
Drift’s native token, DRIFT, rose about 22%, climbing from $0.045 to $0.055 following the announcement, per CoinGecko. The token previously plunged as much as 30% in the aftermath of the attack.
This is a developing story.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.