Pinned Tweet
Today, Drift is rebranding to Velocity.
Our new name reflects the new and improved platform that we are building. Perpetual trading is a market where execution speed and directional precision determine outcomes. Velocity captures both, and signifies the momentum behind our relaunch.
The rebrand marks a deliberate line between what was and what comes next. Velocity is the exchange we have been building toward — a cleaner architecture, a stronger security foundation, and a clearer sense of what this platform is for. The name carries that intent.
As Velocity continues building towards relaunch, we are also planning to release our private Beta to select partners and traders in the coming days. This is an important step towards ensuring Velocity is rebuilt into the most robust perps exchange on Solana.
We look forward to sharing more soon.
Our new name reflects the new and improved platform that we are building. Perpetual trading is a market where execution speed and directional precision determine outcomes. Velocity captures both, and signifies the momentum behind our relaunch.
The rebrand marks a deliberate line between what was and what comes next. Velocity is the exchange we have been building toward — a cleaner architecture, a stronger security foundation, and a clearer sense of what this platform is for. The name carries that intent.
As Velocity continues building towards relaunch, we are also planning to release our private Beta to select partners and traders in the coming days. This is an important step towards ensuring Velocity is rebuilt into the most robust perps exchange on Solana.
We look forward to sharing more soon.
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Deposits and new accounts are back on Velocity.
Following the Binance incident, we paused both as a precaution to keep stolen funds out of the protocol. That pause is now lifted.
Deposit BTC, ETH, SOL, USDT or ZEC and use it as collateral to trade perps. PnL settles in USDT.
promised. Withdrawals, accounts and positions stayed live throughout.
Following the Binance incident, we paused both as a precaution to keep stolen funds out of the protocol. That pause is now lifted.
Deposit BTC, ETH, SOL, USDT or ZEC and use it as collateral to trade perps. PnL settles in USDT.
promised. Withdrawals, accounts and positions stayed live throughout.
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Security update from Velocity
Following the recent security incident at Binance, we've taken a precautionary step: new deposits and new account creation on Velocity are temporarily paused.
To be clear:
• Velocity has not been hacked or compromised
• Withdrawals are fully operational
• Existing accounts and open positions are unaffected
This is a preventative measure to keep stolen funds from entering the protocol.
We expect to reopen deposits shortly and will post an update here as soon as we do.
Thanks for your patience.
Following the recent security incident at Binance, we've taken a precautionary step: new deposits and new account creation on Velocity are temporarily paused.
To be clear:
• Velocity has not been hacked or compromised
• Withdrawals are fully operational
• Existing accounts and open positions are unaffected
This is a preventative measure to keep stolen funds from entering the protocol.
We expect to reopen deposits shortly and will post an update here as soon as we do.
Thanks for your patience.
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Velocity retweeted
We've read your replies. Here are answers to the main questions.
DFX is not pegged to 1 USDT. You receive 1 DFX for every 1 USDT of verified loss, and what you receive when you redeem depends on the Recovery Pool Balance at that time.
The Recovery Pool covers around 1% of total claims today. Redeeming is optional. You can hold DFX and keep your claim on the Recovery Pool as deposits arrive and supply falls, or trade it on secondary markets like Raydium.
Tether has committed up to 127.5M USDT to support relaunch and user recovery, matched against Velocity's Net Protocol Revenue. It isn't a lump sum that has already been received.
The 1 January 2028 deadline is for claiming. DFX you've already claimed is not burned.
If your claim failed, your allocation is safe. Please retry. Wallet warnings on the site have been resolved.
DFX is not pegged to 1 USDT. You receive 1 DFX for every 1 USDT of verified loss, and what you receive when you redeem depends on the Recovery Pool Balance at that time.
The Recovery Pool covers around 1% of total claims today. Redeeming is optional. You can hold DFX and keep your claim on the Recovery Pool as deposits arrive and supply falls, or trade it on secondary markets like Raydium.
Tether has committed up to 127.5M USDT to support relaunch and user recovery, matched against Velocity's Net Protocol Revenue. It isn't a lump sum that has already been received.
The 1 January 2028 deadline is for claiming. DFX you've already claimed is not burned.
If your claim failed, your allocation is safe. Please retry. Wallet warnings on the site have been resolved.
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Velocity retweeted
DFX Claims and Redemptions are now live.
If you had a verified loss from the 1 April incident, you can claim 1 DFX for every 1 USDT lost.
Claim: dfx.drift.trade
How it works: drift.trade/updates/dfx-cl…
The claim window closes at 00:00 UTC on 1 January 2028. Unclaimed DFX will be burned.
If you had a verified loss from the 1 April incident, you can claim 1 DFX for every 1 USDT lost.
Claim: dfx.drift.trade
How it works: drift.trade/updates/dfx-cl…
The claim window closes at 00:00 UTC on 1 January 2028. Unclaimed DFX will be burned.
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DFX Claims and Redemptions are now live.
For all the information related to DFX, claims, and redemptions, please refer to @DriftFDN
For all the information related to DFX, claims, and redemptions, please refer to @DriftFDN
DFX Claims and Redemptions are now live.
If you had a verified loss from the 1 April incident, you can claim 1 DFX for every 1 USDT lost.
Claim: dfx.drift.trade
How it works: drift.trade/updates/dfx-cl…
The claim window closes at 00:00 UTC on 1 January 2028. Unclaimed DFX will be burned.
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An update from @DriftFDN regarding the recovery of funds and where things stand. For the latest information on tracking, tracing, and recovering funds, please follow @DriftFDN
Drift Recovery Update
An update on the ~$295.4M taken from Drift users on 1 April, and where recovery efforts stand.
Drift Foundation will continue pursuing efforts to track, trace, and recover stolen funds. Recovered funds, whether they come back through a freeze, bounty, or through law enforcement, shall be directed into the DFX recovery pool.
Mandiant, zeroShadow, and SEAL 911 were brought in to investigate and trace the funds. Mandiant identified the attacker as UNC6862, a North Korean threat group. Since April, zeroShadow has tracked the stolen funds, including the laundering that began in July, and has shared its findings with law enforcement.
—
Where the funds are
The stolen funds were bridged to Ethereum, ~130,259 ETH across four wallets. Three of those four wallets have not moved and currently hold 107,165 ETH. On 23 July, one of the wallets sent about 23,094 ETH into Tornado Cash.
Working together with zeroShadow and law enforcement, the Foundation continues to track and flag every withdrawal as it appears, and monitor all wallets around the clock.
Some of those stolen funds have been transferred across multiple blockchains and jurisdictions, making the process of recovering and returning frozen funds complex and time-consuming.
—
Frozen funds
About $9.2M of stolen funds has been frozen so far, after the attacker moved them through Tornado Cash in August.
Recovering frozen funds involves law enforcement and is a process that takes time. We are actively working on this and will share updates as soon as there is progress.
—
DRIFT token
The Foundation is also evaluating the best path forward for the DRIFT. Foundation's priority remains asset recovery and establishing the token's future pathway within the broader DRIFT ecosystem.
—
Bounty Program
In collaboration with Bybit, the Foundation has launched a public bounty program: a 10% bounty on any successfully recovered funds. The program is listed publicly to maximize participation from white hats, security researchers, and the broader ecosystem.
lazarusbounty.com/en/DRIFT
—
A word of caution: The Foundation will never message you directly about recovered funds, ask you to connect a wallet, or ask for a fee. Anyone who does this is not from the Drift Foundation. Follow official channels for official updates.
Foundation will share the next update when there is further progress to report.
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Thank you, Cindy.
Five and a half years ago, @crispheaney, @bigz_Pubkey, @davijlu and I set out on a weird, winding, and wonderful journey to build a perpetual futures exchange. The crypto market structure was extremely immature then. Perps were just starting out, most DeFi users were paying $200 to execute a single transaction on Ethereum. We were one of the first to bring a fully on-chain perpetual DEX to market and launched for the first time on Solana in November 2021.
Today, as the exchange relaunches and enters its next chapter, I'm stepping down from Drift, now @VelocityDEX.
I'm extremely proud of what we built – one of the largest exchanges on Solana with over $150B traded. Chris and Z, our technical cofounders, led the technology front to build every piece of the exchange stack, while David and I put together an incredible and experienced growth and operational team. I poured my heart, soul, and many years of the most insane ups and downs into building and growing Drift – a gruelling, but immensely fulfilling journey. In many ways, it felt like my first child.
This April, we faced a state-level attack by DPRK, after a long-planned six months of social engineering infiltration. Going through it and the aftermath was by far the worst week of my life.
Within ten sleepless nights, we closed a deal with Tether that put users on a path to recovery. We hired @redacted_noah, ex-head of protocol engineering at Helium, to lead the rebuild of Velocity’s smart contract technology, a difficult task he took on enthusiastically and with zest. We brought on @namanmtl, who joins us from Binance and Trust Wallet to lead Growth and Recovery to grow our trader base for the relaunch. I am proud of my team who stepped up to take initiative above and beyond – especially @tracybbd who personally took the pains to speak to every single trader and market maker on the exchange.
Over the next few months, the team refused to quit and hunkered down to rebuild the exchange with a full security upgrade. Designing DFX as well as coordinating on multi-nation asset recovery working alongside @zeroShadow_io and local law enforcement agencies to freeze assets was a huge feat. This week, Velocity finalized their audit by @osec_io and @asymmetric_re and fully open-sourced the exchange. After a long and arduous journey, with many security audits in tow and with massive effort from the team, the exchange relaunches today – even better and faster than before.
I would like to shout out the incredible team that will be carrying on the Velocity product. @davijlu, along with Foundation, will continue to move on the asset recovery and law enforcement work. @redacted_noah will continue to build out Velocity’s technology, shipping new features like CLOB and Prop AMM that will make the product even better and smoother. @Defioppa, who previously led product at Binance, will continue to lead the product at Velocity. @tracybbd will lead partnerships and stakeholder relationships. @namanmtl will join us from his extensive background at Binance to lead growth.
With a heavy heart, I fully own this decision to step down. I have always done my best work building from zero to one. Velocity is now at the stage where it needs operators who can take it from one to ten, and I trust this team to take it to the next level. It is the right decision for me and for the protocol, to open a new chapter for Velocity.
I've been all in on crypto, my whole career since I was 19. Now I will be spending energy on exploring what’s next for me personally. I care about building bridges between Asia and the US, between digital and physical infrastructure, and about bringing what I've learned home to my local community in Southeast Asia. I will actively continue to champion Velocity, and the founders and teams I’m backing.
To our users and partners: thank you so much for the trust. I know the Velocity team is genuinely giving the relaunch all they have. To our investors: thank you for all your guidance and support all these years. To our team: thank you for everything. I couldn't have imagined doing this with anyone else.
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This week, Velocity Beta opened to everyone.
→ ZEC-PERP went live at up to 10x, and ZEC joined SOL, wBTC, wETH, and USDT as collateral.
→ Every account at 2 bps for a limited time, and referrers earn 20% of their referrals' fees.
Trade Now → app.velocity.exchange
→ ZEC-PERP went live at up to 10x, and ZEC joined SOL, wBTC, wETH, and USDT as collateral.
→ Every account at 2 bps for a limited time, and referrers earn 20% of their referrals' fees.
Trade Now → app.velocity.exchange
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Trade with what you hold.
SOL, wBTC, wETH, ZEC, or USDT count as collateral.
One deposit backs every market you trade.
Multi-collateral by design. Settled in USDT.
Trade Now → app.velocity.exchange
SOL, wBTC, wETH, ZEC, or USDT count as collateral.
One deposit backs every market you trade.
Multi-collateral by design. Settled in USDT.
Trade Now → app.velocity.exchange
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Velocity retweeted
Among the many new markets coming soon, ZEC is launching first.
Trade ZEC perpetuals or use it as collateral across our entire perp lineup.
Plus, enjoy a promotional 2 bps trading fee across all perp markets while it lasts.
More listings coming soon...
Trade ZEC perpetuals or use it as collateral across our entire perp lineup.
Plus, enjoy a promotional 2 bps trading fee across all perp markets while it lasts.
More listings coming soon...
NEW LISTING: ZEC-PERP is now live on Velocity Beta.
Long or short Zcash up to 10x. Deposit ZEC and use it as collateral, or post wBTC, wETH, SOL, or USDT.
2 bps fees for every account for a limited time.
Trade Now → app.velocity.exchange/ZEC-PERP
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NEW LISTING: ZEC-PERP is now live on Velocity Beta.
Long or short Zcash up to 10x. Deposit ZEC and use it as collateral, or post wBTC, wETH, SOL, or USDT.
2 bps fees for every account for a limited time.
Trade Now → app.velocity.exchange/ZEC-PERP
Long or short Zcash up to 10x. Deposit ZEC and use it as collateral, or post wBTC, wETH, SOL, or USDT.
2 bps fees for every account for a limited time.
Trade Now → app.velocity.exchange/ZEC-PERP
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1/ The whitelist is off. Velocity Beta is now open to everyone.
wBTC, wETH, SOL, and USDT count as collateral in one account.
2 bps, the lowest tier we charge, for a limited time. Trade Now → velocity.exchange
wBTC, wETH, SOL, and USDT count as collateral in one account.
2 bps, the lowest tier we charge, for a limited time. Trade Now → velocity.exchange
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4/ Hedge with the crypto you hold.
wBTC, wETH, SOL, and USDT all count as collateral in one account. Up to 20x on select perps. Settled on-chain, in USDT.
wBTC, wETH, SOL, and USDT all count as collateral in one account. Up to 20x on select perps. Settled on-chain, in USDT.
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Signed up for the Velocity Beta yet?
For a limited time only: 2 bps fees and a 20% referral bonus.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…
For a limited time only: 2 bps fees and a 20% referral bonus.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…
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Velocity retweeted
happy open source day lads, been a grind to get till here and it’s just first of many milestones as we try rebuilding. if you got time, please check out new program and feel free to reach out if you have any feedback!
expect a lot more big protocol features to come :)
expect a lot more big protocol features to come :)
1/ Velocity completes its audit with @osec_io. The protocol is now open source, leaner, and safer. The full report and source code are now public.
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