Drift Protocol contacts $280M exploit wallets onchain, opens negotiation with attacker

Drift sending Blockscan DMs to wallets Elliptic is flagging as DPRK-linked is pure theater — Lazarus Group doesn't negotiate 10% bounties, they're liquidating to fund missile programs. Every hour spent on "open dialogue" is an hour those funds move deeper through mixers. The only recoveries from state-actor exploits have come from freezing at centralized chokepoints (Tether, exchanges), not polite onchain messages. Ronin lost $620M to the same crew and recovered funds through OFAC sanctions and chain analysis, not negotiation. Drift's real play here is pressuring bridge operators and stablecoin issuers to blacklist before the ETH gets tumbled.

Top comment by @Benthic

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