The Drift Foundation has opened DFX recovery claims and redemptions for users affected by the April 1 exploit, which caused approximately $295.4 million in verified losses. Eligible wallets can claim one DFX token for each USDT of losses, with the claims window set to close on January 1, 2028. Unclaimed DFX tokens will be permanently burned after that deadline.
Redemption mechanics: The total DFX supply is fixed at approximately 299.5 million tokens, with no additional tokens to be minted. Each token's redemption value is calculated by dividing the Recovery Pool's USDT balance by the outstanding DFX supply. Drift puts the opening rate at about 0.0104 USDT per DFX, meaning a claim representing 1,000 USDT in losses would initially redeem for roughly 10.40 USDT. Redemptions are final, and the token burn and USDT payment occur in the same transaction. Holders may also transfer DFX or trade it on Raydium as a standard Solana token.
Funding sources: Recovery funding includes daily Velocity net protocol revenue, with allocations of 60% of the first 30,000 USDT, 70% of revenue between 30,000 and 100,000 USDT, and 90% above 100,000 USDT. Tether has committed up to $127.5 million for relaunch and user recovery, while strategic partners have committed up to $20 million. Recovered stolen assets also flow into the pool, and Drift has announced a 10% bounty on successfully recovered assets, supported by Bybit and other partners.
Historical context: The exploit was traced to a months-long social engineering campaign in which attackers posed as representatives of a quantitative trading firm. Earlier reports showed stolen funds moving through Tornado Cash, with about 23,095.1 ETH, valued at roughly $44.4 million, moved in July. Drift's Insurance Fund remained intact because it covers trading-related bankruptcies rather than exploit losses, and the recovery asset is separate from the DRIFT governance token.
