Tether has announced a recovery plan worth up to $150 million to help users of the Solana-based trading platform Drift Protocol recover losses from a major exploit that occurred on April 1, 2026.

The hack drained roughly $285 million from the platform and affected over 128,000 users, forcing Drift to pause and restructure its operations. Under the new plan, Tether is contributing about $127.5 million, while additional partners are helping cover the rest of the recovery package.

Unlike a traditional payout, the recovery is structured around platform revenue. Instead of paying users immediately in full, Drift will gradually restore balances as the platform restarts trading and generates income. This ties repayments directly to real trading activity and platform recovery.

A major change in the relaunch is that Drift will replace USDC with USDT as its main settlement stablecoin. This shift is expected to bring over 35 ecosystem partners onto USDT within the Solana DeFi environment, strengthening Tether’s presence in that ecosystem.

Tether says the model is designed to restore user confidence while keeping Drift operational, with repayments flowing in as trading volumes recover. The company also highlighted its work with global law enforcement agencies in combating digital asset crime as part of its broader role in incident response.

There is no fixed timeline for full repayment, but the structure links recovery progress to Drift’s ongoing performance rather than legal or liquidation processes.