One of Solana’s most trusted DeFi platforms just became the victim of a massive heist. Drift Protocol has suffered a major exploit, with losses exceeding $285 million after an attacker gained control of key administrative permissions.

Following the Drift Protocol exploit, the Drift token price crashed by 42%, now trading around $0.041.

Drift Protocol Exploit Drained Over $285M

According to blockchain security firm Slowmist, the exploit began around 4 PM UTC, with the first major transfer being $155 million worth of JLP tokens drained from a Drift vault.

Within a matter of hours, the damage had grown far beyond what anyone initially expected.

The total amount stolen surpassed $285 million, more than 50% of Drift Protocol’s total value locked.

Attacker Bridges $270M to Ethereum

In a coordinated move, the attacker quickly then bridged roughly 129,000 ETH, valued at about $270.9 million, from Solana to Ethereum using CCTP TokenMessengerMinterV2.

To avoid detection, the stolen funds were split across multiple wallets, with transfers including 55.4K ETH, 25.7K ETH, 24.9K ETH, and 23.1K ETH, indicating a careful effort to reduce tracking risk.

Before bridging, the exploiter swapped the stolen assets into USDC via Jupiter, then converted them into ETH. This quick conversion helped the exploiter consolidate funds before moving them across chains.

How the Attack Was Carried Out: Weeks of Planning

This was not a random hack. The attacker spent weeks preparing rather than acting on a sudden opportunity.

Three weeks before the attack, the exploiter created a fake token on Solana called the CarbonVote Token. By injecting just $500 of liquidity and wash-trading it repeatedly, the hacker built a fake but stable price history that could fool the protocol’s oracle systems.

Then came the final blow. According to Drift Protocol’s own statement, a malicious actor gained unauthorized access through a method involving durable nonces, pre-signed transactions that can be held and executed at a later time.

This allowed the attacker to lock in control before anyone noticed quietly. Multiple multisig signers were also reportedly compromised, likely through targeted social engineering.

DRIFT Token Crashes

The DRIFT token’s price fell by more than 42% in a day, following the exploit, trading at around $0.041.

The protocol swiftly suspended all deposits and withdrawals, urging users not to interact with the platform.

The team is now working with security firms, bridges, exchanges, and law enforcement to trace and freeze stolen assets. A detailed postmortem report is expected in the coming days.