Solana Surges Past $90 as Tether Rescues Drift Protocol

Solana's native token SOL has reached a significant milestone on April 17, 2026, with its price surpassing the $90 mark. This surge is largely attributed to Tether's decision to provide a recovery package for Drift Protocol, a key Solana-based decentralized exchange that suffered a major hack earlier this month.

The $147.5-150 million rescue plan includes a long-term revenue-sharing model where platform fees from Drift will gradually reimburse the recovery pool. The protocol also plans to shift its settlement layer from USDC to USDT, further solidifying Tether's role in Solana's DeFi stack.

The initiative has been interpreted as a decisive step to contain systemic risk and protect user funds, thereby boosting investor confidence in Solana's ecosystem. As a result, SOL has outpaced Bitcoin, with its price rising by around 5% in the last 24 hours.