Drift Protocol halts deposits after Solana exploit drains $200–270M; bridge minting probed

Drift Protocol confirmed it detected "unusual activity" on the platform and asked users to refrain from investing while its team investigates, noting the message was not an April Fool's statement. The protocol also halted deposits and urged users to proceed with caution as the investigation continues ^{[1] [2]}.

Multiple news outlets reported large outflows from the protocol. News.Bitcoin.com and other outlets reported the exploit may have drained over $200 million from the platform, while The Defiant reported roughly $270 million moved from a vault address associated with Drift across more than 15 token types ^{[3] [4] [5]}.

Observers, including Solana developer Mert Mumtaz, reported indications that an attacker may have created a bridge between Solana and Ethereum to extract assets and mint USDC, according to early reports. On-chain analysis and labeling have identified a vault address as the origin of the transfers under investigation ^{[4] [5]}.

The incident remains under active investigation by Drift and the wider community; users were advised not to deposit funds into the protocol while the situation is being assessed ^{[1] [2]}.