Drift Protocol says it has lined up a proposed recovery package of up to $147.5 million from Tether and other partners as the Solana perpetuals exchange works to recover from its April 1 exploit.

What Drift disclosed

In its April 16 incident update, Drift said Tether is proposed to contribute up to $127.5 million, with $20 million more from other partners. The package includes a revenue-linked credit facility, an ecosystem grant, and loans to market makers. Drift said the structure is intended to help cover $295.7 million in outstanding user losses over time, alongside any funds later recovered through forensics and law enforcement work.

The protocol also said affected users will receive a separate recovery token representing a claim on that recovery pool. Drift plans a full relaunch only after independent audits by Ottersec and Asymmetric, plus broader operational security changes around multisig management and admin controls.

USDC out, USDT in

As part of the reboot, Drift said it will switch its settlement layer from USDC to USDT. Tether separately confirmed the arrangement, describing the overall support package as nearly $150 million and saying it will also back market-making liquidity for the relaunch.

The stablecoin change is notable because Circle had faced criticism after the hack for not freezing bridged USDC without a court order. Drift is now pairing its recovery plan with a more active liquidity and settlement partner as it tries to restore trading on one of Solana's largest perpetuals venues.