Drift announces rebrand to Solana ecosystem Perp DEX, with revenue allocated to establish a user compensation fund

On June 4, Drift Protocol laid out its top immediate priorities: relaunching its platform and restoring revenue-generating capabilities to speed up the recovery of user funds. Once back online, the platform will target becoming Solana’s largest USDT perpetual swap trading venue, with all related earnings set aside for a dedicated user compensation fund. The protocol noted that it has made meaningful progress on the relaunch thanks to strategic support from Tether and other partners. To strengthen security, Drift has appointed Noah Prince—former engineering lead at Helium Protocol—as its new protocol lead, responsible for protocol restructuring and security system overhauls. Additionally, team members from Gauntlet have joined the relaunch effort to provide risk management and treasury design support, including liquidation engine audits, funding rate optimization, market parameter adjustments, and ongoing risk monitoring. Drift has also engaged cybersecurity firm Mandiant to conduct an independent forensic probe into the recent attack incident. The investigation results attribute the attack to North Korean hacker group UNC6862, which has ties to multiple prior cyberattack campaigns. The protocol emphasized that security will remain a core focus as it pushes forward with the relaunch, and it will share details on the user compensation mechanism and specific timeline at a later date.