Tether US exec Jesse Spiro named chairman of $100M Fellowship PAC to push USAT
Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Tether US, Jesse Spiro, is now the chairman of the Fellowship PAC, a $100 million crypto-backed group that will support leaders who champion new ideas and grow USAT beyond Ethereum.
The Fellowship PAC said it will invest in increasing USAT adoption and expand its market on many blockchains. The move comes amid a broader wave of political spending by crypto firms ahead of the 2026 U.S. midterm elections.
Tether executive leads PAC to drive USAT expansion
Jesse Spiro previously led government and regulatory affairs at Tether US and will now guide the PAC’s strategy to support initiatives that expand USAT activity beyond Ethereum.
Anonymous donors raised over $100 million to ensure the PAC has sufficient resources to promote innovation, educate the public about digital assets, and increase USAT adoption across different blockchains.
Tether’s USAT is structured to comply with the recently enacted GENIUS Act, which introduced clearer rules for stablecoin issuers, including requirements for reserve transparency and asset backing.
The leadership of USAT by former U.S. official Bo Hines emphasizes Tether’s strategy of becoming involved in the U.S. regulatory and political landscape.
Hines has said the company’s goal is “to participate in the U.S economy in a big way” and now says he expects more growth in the next two years.
The PAC’s mission is to support transparent, secure, and trustworthy systems, thereby protecting and strengthening U.S. leadership in digital assets. Similarly, the initiative will assist builders, developers, and technology companies in accessing the tools and networks they need to advance entrepreneurship and support innovation in financial infrastructure.
Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Tether US said, “We have an opportunity to ensure the United States remains the global hub for builders, entrepreneurs, and technological progress. Fellowship PAC is committed to supporting leaders who understand what’s at stake and are willing to act.”
Fellowship PAC uses crypto funds to grow innovation and USAT adoption
The PAC will announce its first slate of candidate endorsements, focusing on individuals and groups that recognize the value of open markets. Other crypto-backed PACs, including Fairshake PAC, took a similar initiative by spending more than $130 million in the 2024 election cycle and recording $193 million in resources heading into the 2026 midterms.
According to reports, the Fellowship PAC collects funds from multiple backers in the crypto industry, though the details remain hidden. In addition to financial support, the PAC will work with crypto industry stakeholders to provide a platform for builders, developers, and companies to partner on projects that improve USAT.
Similarly, the committee is responsible for educating leaders and stakeholders on topics like blockchain platforms, stablecoins, and the use of USAT. This way, users and businesses will easily integrate the stablecoin into their day-to-day activities.
What’s more, Fellowship PAC will run visibility campaigns that demonstrate USAT’s capabilities, help new users discover the stablecoin, encourage developers to build applications, and guide businesses in using the platform effectively.
The PAC also monitors other crypto-backed committees, observes adoption patterns, and analyzes technical challenges to reduce errors and implement best practices that accelerate USAT adoption across multiple networks.
With easy access to resources, guidance, and awareness campaigns, retail users will better understand the program, while institutions will get the support they need to integrate USAT into their daily operations.
According to Jesse Spiro, Fellowship PAC aims to create a structured, long-term ecosystem in which USAT and similar platforms can expand safely and effectively. Instead of focusing on the immediate influence, the PAC will build a foundation for multi-chain growth and technological adoption.
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Drift Protocol hack raises crypto lending red flags as institutional funds chase yields
Drift Protocol, exploited for up to $285M, may have lasting repercussions on Solana DeFi and lending as a whole. The incident exposed significant whale funds, showing the ongoing weakness in Web3 infrastructure.
Drift Protocol exposed the weakness of Web3 lending and decentralized trading. The protocol discovered the main cause of the exploit, which was the loss of two private keys to the multisig wallet. This allowed the hacker to change the rules, lock the team out of the admin account, and drain valuable assets against a fake token collateral.
Drift Protocol was not exploited through a smart contract, but its governance process was too fast and without failsafe mechanisms. This allowed the hacker to withdraw funds continuously for more than an hour, mimicking borrowing against the posted token collateral.
According to OShield Protocol, the compromised wallets allowed the hacker to change the admin key with an on-chain transaction on Solana. Another multisig member, presumably the second compromised key, approved the change.
The hacker then created a vault based on a falsely valued token with an inflated oracle price. After that, the hacker was free to use Drift Protocol’s own features for cross-margin and swapping to drain multiple vaults.
After the hack, the funds were consolidated on Ethereum addresses in the form of ETH. The hacker used Phantom Wallet, Wormhole bridge and Jupiter’s bridging service to take the funds out of Solana, later using other DEXs to swap out of freezable USDC tokens. The ETH can become hard to trace if mixed through Tornado Cash.
On-chain researcher ZachXBT noted Circle did not react to over $230M in USDC while it moved in the early hours after the hack.
Update: $230M+ USDC bridged via CCTP from Solana to Ethereum across 100+ txns.
6 hours is how long Circle had to freeze stolen funds from the $280M+ Drift hack.
Circle is a centralized stablecoin issuer headquartered in New York and the attack began around 12 pm ET.
Why does… pic.twitter.com/v9OKxeOJHN
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 2, 2026
In theory, Circle can freeze tokens, but rarely does so, and only if there are legal concerns against a known entity.
Which protocols were affected by the Drift Protocol hack?
One of the biggest concerns was which other DeFi hubs would be affected by Drift Protocol. The DEX and lending vaults advertised themselves as reliable sources of yield for USDC, just as Solana lending was growing.
DeFi Dev Corp., one of the biggest Solana treasury companies, stated it did not get exposure to Drift Protocol. Previously, the DAT company stated it may put some of its funds to use within Solana DeFi vaults, but did not build a direct exposure to Drift. The company still allocates some of its assets to on-chain yield strategies, but has a high standard of risk management.
Several smaller DeFi protocols, however, reported indirect losses. In DeFi, vault curation has turned into a tool that sometimes consolidates funds into the largest and presumably, most stable protocols. Before the exploit, Drift Protocol held around $550M in liquidity and was linked to smaller Solana DeFi apps.
Protocols include Trade Neutral, Elemental DeFi, SynatraXYZ, Project0, Ranger Finance, and Reflect Money. Carrot Protocol also reported direct losses from funds locked in Drift vaults, an estimated 50% of value locked.
After further investigation – Carrot has been impacted by the recent exploit on the Drift protocol.
We have paused mint/redeem functions at this time until we can gain more clarity and will update with information when we have it.
All Boost and Turbo products are unaffected
— Carrot (@DeFiCarrot) April 1, 2026
All user funds were also affected for Pyra Protocol, which was just a storefront for using Drift. The app cannot honor user withdrawals, as all funds were locked with Drift and are completely inaccessible.
The exposure of private keys also raises questions about the wider DeFi lending market. Recently, the rise in stablecoin supply and search for yield presented lending as an activity suitable even for institutions.
This recent exposure of private keys and admin access hijack showed that Web3 security still has weak spots, which could expose institutional-grade capital to major risks.
Following the hack, the overall Solana DeFi value fell from $6.1B to $5.4B, as reported by Defillama. DRIFT tokens also incurred losses, wiping out 37% to a price of $0.04. SOL also lost 5.7% in the past day, sinking below $80.
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