At Least 12 Crypto Entities Attacked Since Drift Protocol Hack
Decentralized finance protocol Drift Protocol was hacked on April 1, suffering losses of $280 million and highlighting how attackers can exploit DeFi smart contracts and market mechanisms. The significance extends beyond the damage to a single protocol, underscoring the risk of cascading security failures in the highly interconnected crypto ecosystem.
At least 12 crypto protocols and companies have been attacked since the Drift Protocol breach. Recent victims include Rhea Finance, which lost $7.6 million. Attackers continue to exploit vulnerabilities in DeFi protocols to manipulate trades, while the industry fears that advances in AI will lower barriers to such attacks and make them more frequent.
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The history behind this eventSolana-Based Drift Protocol Hacked for $220 Million
Drift Protocol is a major decentralized perpetual futures exchange in the Solana ecosystem, allowing users to deploy assets in trading, lending and vaults. The attack was not simply a smart-contract exploit but a prolonged infiltration targeting governance multisig controls and trust in personnel. More than half of the protocol's total value locked was affected, highlighting operational security risks in DeFi.
On April 1, 2026, the attackers seized control of Drift's multisig and transferred assets within 10 seconds. The loss estimate was raised from an initial range of $136 million to $220 million to $285 million, including $155.6 million in JLP, while DRIFT fell more than 30%. Drift said on April 5 that UNC4736, a North Korea-linked group, had posed as a quantitative trading firm since the fall of 2025, infiltrating the protocol for six months and using Durable Nonce to bypass its multisig.
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