Drift Exploit Sees USDC Bridged via Circle’s CCTP for Hours, Raising Oversight Concerns

• Drift exploit drained up to $285M as TVL fell from $311.38M to $23.49M within hours.
• USDC moved from Solana to Ethereum via CCTP with no pause or freeze.
• Circle froze 16 wallets last week but took no action during the hack, as per ZachXBT.

A major exploit hit the Drift Protocol on April 1, 2026, during US business hours. The attack drained as much as $285 million, and the total value locked (TVL) dropped fast, from $311.38 million to $23.49 million, a 92.5% collapse in protocol liquidity within hours.

The attacker quickly consolidated and swapped assets into USDC and SOL, with the USDC then bridged to Ethereum via Circle’s CCTP over several hours.

On-chain investigator ZachXBT flagged the movement in real time. His claim was that Circle did not act.

CCTP Processes Transfers Without Resistance

CCTP works by burning USDC on the source chain and minting it …

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