Drift Protocol cofounder steps down as the Solana perpetuals exchange relaunches under the name VelocityDEX following a North Korea–linked exploit in April 2026.
Security & Exploits ·
One of the cofounders of Drift Protocol has stepped down as the Solana perpetuals exchange relaunches under the new name VelocityDEX following a significant security incident. The exchange, which had facilitated over $150 billion in trading volume since its launch in November 2021, faced what was characterized as a state-level attack by North Korea in April 2026, preceded by six months of social engineering infiltration. In response, the platform secured a recovery deal with Tether within ten days and initiated a comprehensive rebuild of its smart contract infrastructure with full security upgrades and multiple audits.
The relaunch brings a restructured leadership team tasked with advancing the protocol beyond its current state. New hires include individuals from Helium, Binance, and Trust Wallet, with stated focus areas spanning protocol engineering, growth, product development, and law enforcement coordination for asset recovery. The exchange has completed security audits, fully open-sourced its codebase, and plans to introduce additional features including a central limit order book and a proprietary automated market maker.
The departing cofounder cited the protocol's transition from early-stage development to operational scaling as the rationale for stepping aside, characterizing the decision as necessary for VelocityDEX to progress to the next phase under operators better suited to that growth trajectory.