What Is DRIFT

On July 2, the stablecoin protocol Reflect, supported by a16z, announced the launch of an independent voluntary recovery plan for USDC+ holders affected by the Drift (now Velocity) hacking incident in April. Starting today, a 180-day window is open for holders to voluntarily sell their positions to Palindrome Engineering at a price of 0.20 USDC + 80 Reflect Credits (RC) per unit, with complete on-chain settlement. The plan is funded in advance by Palindrome and is entirely independent of the Drift recovery process. Participants will waive their claims against Drift in exchange for immediate certainty of liquidity; those who do not participate can still support Drift's DFX recovery channel.

On July 1, according to official news, the perpetual contract trading platform Drift announced its official rebranding to Velocity. This brand upgrade aims to reflect the new generation of trading platform architecture that the team is building. They emphasized that in the perpetual contract market, execution speed and directional judgment are crucial. The name 'Velocity' is intended to embody trading speed and market momentum, while also marking the platform's entry into a restart phase. The official statement noted that this renaming also represents a clear demarcation in the product roadmap: the new platform will adopt a clearer system architecture, stronger security infrastructure, and more defined product positioning. Currently, Velocity is advancing its reconstruction efforts and plans to open a private testing version to select partners and traders in the coming days to validate the stability and performance of the new generation of Solana-based perpetual contract trading system.

On June 4, Drift Protocol stated that its current top priority is to restart the platform and restore revenue generation to expedite the recovery process for user funds. Once relaunched, it will become the largest USDT-based perpetual contract trading platform on Solana, with related revenues allocated to a dedicated user compensation fund. Drift noted that substantial progress has been made in the restart efforts with strategic support from Tether and other partners. To enhance security, Drift announced the appointment of Noah Prince, former head of engineering at the Helium Protocol, as the protocol lead, responsible for protocol restructuring and security system upgrades. Additionally, former members of the Gauntlet team have joined the restart efforts to provide risk management and treasury design support, including clearing engine reviews, funding rate optimization, market parameter adjustments, and ongoing risk monitoring. Furthermore, Drift has engaged cybersecurity firm Mandiant to conduct an independent forensic investigation into the attack incident. The investigation revealed that the attack can be clearly attributed to the North Korean hacker group UNC6862, which is linked to multiple cyberattack operations. Drift stated that it will continue to prioritize security in advancing the platform's restart and will announce the user compensation mechanism and specific timeline in due course.