Solana-based decentralized exchange Drift Protocol said Wednesday it was investigating a potential $270M exploit that triggered a sharp selloff in its native DRIFT (DRIFT) token, with blockchain investigators reporting that funds — largely in the form of Jupiter Perps — were rapidly draining from the platform's vaults.
Drift Protocol Exploit Details
The trading platform posted a warning on its official X account, telling users not to deposit funds until further notice. "This is not an April Fools joke," the team wrote. "Proceed with caution until further notice."
CoinGecko data showed DRIFT trading at just over $0.05, down 11% in 24 hours. Arkham Intelligence, which tracks the protocol's vault balances, confirmed the sharp decline in holdings on Wednesday.
Blockchain analysts first flagged the outflows Wednesday afternoon New York time. Over $270M in crypto left the protocol, mostly as Jupiter Perps, according to on-chain investigators. Tens of millions in USDC, Fartcoin (FARTCOIN), and Wrapped Ethereum also moved out.
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Solana Community Response
Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Solana developer platform Helius, was among several prominent figures in the ecosystem who warned traders about the situation. DL News reached out to Drift Protocol but did not receive an immediate response.
Drift Protocol operates as a non-custodial perpetual futures exchange on Solana, letting users trade with leverage and no expiry date. Drift Labs, the company behind the platform, announced in 2024 that it was building a prediction markets product to compete with Polymarket.
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