Drift opens DFX recovery claims with pool at 3.11 million USDT

What happened

The Drift Foundation has opened DFX recovery claims and redemptions for victims of its April 1 exploit, with roughly 3.11 million USDT available and initial payouts near 1% of verified losses. Eligible wallets receive one DFX token for each USDT of verified losses. Holders can redeem tokens for USDT or keep them for future recovery funding.

Each token's redemption amount equals the Recovery Pool's USDT balance divided by the outstanding DFX supply. Drift puts the opening rate at about 0.0104 USDT per token, so a claim representing 1,000 USDT of losses would initially redeem for approximately 10.40 USDT. Redeemed tokens are permanently burned, and the burn and the USDT payment happen in the same transaction. Redemptions are final and payouts round down to the nearest 0.000001 USDT.

The foundation requires users to connect the wallet that controlled their Drift account on April 1, hold a small SOL balance for network fees and accept the DFX terms before approving the claim transaction. The claim window closes on Jan. 1, 2028, when unclaimed DFX tokens will be burned. Launch terms set the total supply at approximately 299.5 million DFX, with no additional tokens to be minted.

Why it matters

The Recovery Pool holds roughly 3.11 million USDT against approximately 295.4 million USDT in verified losses, an early rate near one cent on the dollar. Early redeemers lock in that fractional rate and give up upside as the pool grows, while holders who wait keep their claim on later deposits.

The pool draws on several sources. Tether has committed up to 127.5 million USDT for relaunch and user recovery, and strategic partners have pledged up to 20 million USDT more. A tiered share of Velocity's daily net protocol revenue flows in at 00:00 UTC. Drift says the pool grows until cumulative inflows match verified losses of approximately 295.4 million USDT, at which point outstanding tokens can redeem at par or better.

What the data shows

Drift's May 5 recovery plan set a cumulative funding target of 295,426,725.97 USDT, and the plan said revenue contributions would stop once total inflows matched that amount. The Recovery Pool holds roughly 3.11 million USDT, and Drift puts the opening redemption rate at about 0.0104 USDT per token.

Background

Drift said the April 1 incident was not a smart-contract bug but a months-long social-engineering campaign that compromised private keys. The attack has since been tied to North Korean state-linked actors.

Under the May recovery methodology, Drift recorded spot and perpetual positions when the protocol paused at 18:31:47 UTC on April 1. The foundation said its Insurance Fund remained intact, and the October portal instructions identify Insurance Fund claims as separate from DFX.

What is still unclear

• The recovery timeline depends on how fast the pool fills. Drift lists slow revenue growth on Velocity, delayed partner deployment and limited recovery of stolen funds as risks that could extend it.
• DFX is a standard Solana token that trades freely on secondary markets, including Raydium, where the price may diverge from the published pool ratio.

What to watch

• 2028-01-01 The claim window runs until 00:00 UTC on Jan. 1, 2028, and unclaimed DFX tokens are burned after that deadline.

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