Drift Issues Bounty on $295 Million Stolen in DeFi Hack

Cryptocurrency exchange Drift has outlined a plan to recover $295 million taken in a hack.

That attack was carried out by a group associated with the North Korean government, the company said Tuesday (May 5), adding that the culprit had been confirmed by Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant.

“The majority of stolen assets remain traceable and contained with limited successful off-ramping by the attacker,” the company said. “Drift is working with a variety of parties and law enforcement to actively recover frozen funds.”

Roughly 130,259 in ether — or $293 million — is concentrated across four Ethereum wallets, Drift said, adding that these wallets are “actively monitored and have been flagged across exchanges and relevant parties.”

Drift reported the incident on April 1, with the hack leading the company to temporarily suspend trading and borrowing. The company says it plans to relaunch in the second quarter “as a leaner, perps-native exchange with an emphasis on security.”

In the meantime, Drift says it has teamed with companies such as Bybit to launch a bounty program of 10% on any successfully recovered assets.

“The program is listed publicly to maximize participation from whitehats, security researchers and the broader ecosystem,” the company said.

The hack on Drift was followed by another incident weeks later in which hackers stole $290 million from the KelpDAO platform.

In the wake of that incident, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster spoke with Ryan Rugg, global head of digital assets for Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions, who argued the Kelp DAO incident was a technical failure as well as a behavioral one.

While earlier attacks targeted private keys or flawed smart contracts, this hack involved the connective tissue of blockchain ecosystems: the messaging layer that allows for interoperability across chains.

“Past hacks were due to stolen keys or bugs in smart contracts, this one was convincing the vault the thief was actually the owner,” Rugg told Webster in an interview for the PYMNTS “From the Block” podcast.

As PYMNTS wrote, the incident underscores the tension between the crypto world’s desire for open, interoperable systems and the institutional demand for security and control.

“Does this delay the institutional adoption of DeFi? Maybe,” Rugg said. “It is going to take some of the confidence out of the market.”

Still, she didn’t go as far as labeling the hack a defining setback, adding that any institutionally driven decision will likely come down to whether firms can install “proper redundancy and security at every layer where the trust resides.”