Drift Protocol hit by private key breach; losses estimated at $220M–$285M
Key takeaways: Drift Protocol was drained of more than $220 million in a crypto hack tied to a private key compromise, with some estimates putting losses as high as $285 million. The attacker routed funds via USDC, bridging from Solana to Ethereum using CCTP, as observers questioned the pace of the response. DRIFT fell 42.18% in 24 hours, while volume spiked and market cap slid during the selloff.
Drift Protocol, a Solana-based decentralized perpetual futures exchange, said it was under active attack and immediately paused deposits and withdrawals. The team reported detecting unusual activity and shutting down key platform functions while coordinating with security firms, bridges, and exchanges to contain the incident. Users were urged not to deposit funds and to proceed cautiously as the investigation continues.
On-chain analysts have attributed the breach to compromised administrative private keys rather than a smart-contract flaw, citing transaction behavior and input from security firms. The first major transfer was recorded around 11:06 a.m., when roughly 41 million JLP tokens—worth about $155 million—were moved from the Drift Vault to a wallet labeled "HkGz4K". Additional assets, including SOL, stablecoins, wrapped tokens, and memecoins, were then swept and dispersed across multiple wallets.
Researchers described the incident as involving privileged access. Jiang Xuxian said the protocol's admin keys were likely compromised or leaked. PeckShield alerts and blockchain analytics estimated total losses could reach $285 million.
After the breach, the attacker reportedly converted assets to USDC and bridged funds from Solana to Ethereum via CCTP over several hours during U.S. trading hours. Investigator ZachXBT said large amounts of USDC moved continuously for hours without interruption, comments that also pointed to recent wallet-freeze actions and fueled scrutiny around response timing. Phantom wallet displayed warnings to users attempting to interact with Drift Protocol and added safeguards while the probe remains ongoing.
The market reaction was swift. CoinMarketCap data shows DRIFT fell to $0.03998 over the past 24 hours, down 42.18%. Market capitalization dropped to $23.23 million, while 24-hour trading volume jumped 354.49% to $37.97 million. The volume-to-market-cap ratio rose to 163.25%, signaling elevated short-term trading activity during the decline.
