🟣 Solana price triggers new bear market within channel pattern

SOL, the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, fell over 3% on Thursday, trading at $78.24. The initial decline was driven by a broader market correction due to escalating geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran. However, Solana's price experienced a surge in selling pressure after its decentralized exchange Drift protocol faced a serious security vulnerability, resulting in approximately $286 million in asset losses.
🔸 Drift Protocol Hack Causes $286 Million Loss
On April 1st, a highly sophisticated attack targeted the high-profile decentralized perpetual contract exchange Drift protocol, draining about $286 million in assets.
The hacker systematically drained the protocol’s main treasury, emptying USDC, JLP, and SOL. Security researchers described the incident as a carefully planned long-term scam that lasted several weeks. The attacker initially created a fake token called CarbonVote Token (CVT) and artificially inflated its apparent value through aggressive wash trading. This manipulation deceived the protocol’s price oracle, causing it to treat CVT as a good collateral.
The biggest breach was the attacker obtaining a private key of an administrator. They added CVT to a secret list of valid assets and significantly increased the amount that could be withdrawn.
In a technically impressive twist, the attacker exploited Solana’s durable randomness feature. They deceived the security committee sitting within the protocol, which had pre-authorized a series of malicious transactions weeks earlier under the guise of routine maintenance.
Based on network metrics and typical money laundering patterns associated with state-sponsored hackers, blockchain forensic firm Elliptic attributed the attack to a North Korean state-sponsored hacking organization.