Crypto platform Drift suffers from hack suspected to total $270 million — firm goes into damage control mode, suspends deposits and withdrawals

Drift Protocol, which claims to be the largest open-sourced perpetual futures exchange on Solana, has just been hit by a cyberattack. The platform said on its X account that it’s suspending deposits and withdrawals due to this, and that it’s coordinating with security firms, bridges, and exchanges to contain the incident. “This is not an April Fools joke,” the company said on the social media platform.

The company hasn’t confirmed any losses at the time of writing, but various estimates point to at least $130 million worth of crypto stolen from the platform. CertiK Alert said in an X post that Drift has approximately $136 million in losses due to the exploit, while blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain says that at least $270 million was stolen, with most of it converted into USD Coin and then into Ethereum.

This potentially makes the Drift Protocol hack the largest one reported this year, so far. Before this, Step Finance was the biggest victim in 2026, with the platform losing $40 million worth of crypto due to multiple executives’ devices getting compromised. Still, the 2025 heist conducted by North Korean hackers against ByBit dwarfs these reports, which saw the platform lose $1.5 billion worth of assets.

While a significant amount of cryptocurrency has been lost through hacks, scams still remain the bigger threat. It’s reported that at least $17 billion worth of crypto assets were lost this way in 2025, with scammers using AI technology to supercharge their operations. Their increasing sophistication means that the number of victims and total amount lost could be higher this year.

Law enforcement from across the world is not taking these hacks and scams lying down, though. In February, South Korean authorities arrested two people suspected of stealing $1.5 million worth of Bitcoin held in police custody, while the FBI arrested a crypto thief who allegedly stole $46 million from seized wallets. A hacker who stole $53 million from Uranium Finance in 2021 is also currently facing up to 30 years in prison after he was charged with computer fraud and money laundering last week.

These efforts show that governments worldwide are now taking cryptocurrencies seriously. However, despite the seemingly massive amounts recovered by the authorities, it’s still a tiny drop in the ocean of stolen Bitcoin and other crypto circulating around the globe.

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