Is North Korea Behind the Drift Protocol Hack? Here’s What the Data Shows
Blockchain analytics agency Elliptic’s newest evaluation prompt that actors linked to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) could also be behind the Drift Protocol hack.
The report highlighted that the hacker zeroed in on three main vaults. This included the JLP Delta Neutral, SOL Super Staking, and BTC Super Staking.
Notably, the pockets utilized in the assault had been arrange roughly eight days previous to the incident. It additionally acquired a minor take a look at transaction from a Drift vault, pointing to a methodically deliberate operation.
Stolen property have been then swapped into USDC and bridged cross-chain from Solana to Ethereum.
“The on-chain habits, laundering methodologies, and network-level indicators related to the assault are according to methods noticed in earlier DPRK-attributed operations,” the report learn.
TRM Labs’ investigation additionally pointed to North Korean hackers. It flagged a number of indicators that aligned with techniques generally related to North Korean operations.
“The use of Tornado Cash for preliminary staging, the deployment timing of the CarbonVote token at 09:30 Pyongyang time, the cross-chain bridging patterns, and the velocity and scale of post-hack laundering — all of which align carefully with methods noticed in prior DPRK-attributed hacks, together with the Bybit exploit of 2025.”
The April 1 assault on the Solana (SOL)-based perpetual futures platform ranks as the largest Decentralized Finance (DeFi) hack of 2026. The fallout continues to spread, with reviews that the variety of affected initiatives has now jumped to twenty.
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If confirmed, this incident would mark the 18th DPRK-linked act Elliptic has tracked in 2026, pushing the yr’s whole losses past $300 million. These actors have reportedly stolen over $6.5 billion in crypto property lately, in accordance with Elliptic.
A Chainalysis report found that North Korean hackers stole a file $2.02 billion in 2025 alone, a 51% year-over-year improve pushed largely by the $1.5 billion Bybit breach.
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