Cetus Loses $220 Million in Cyberattack, Recovers 74%

On the 22nd of May, the decentralized exchange Cetus was targeted in a massive cyberattack, resulting in the theft of over $220 million in digital assets within minutes. The swift response from the Cetus team, in collaboration with the Sui Foundation, managed to freeze $162 million of the stolen funds by leveraging the decentralized validator network. This network chose to block transactions from flagged addresses, partially neutralizing the attack.

In the aftermath of the attack, Cetus has implemented a dual-track recovery plan. The protocol is offering a $6 million white-hat bounty to the hacker in exchange for the safe return of the remaining stolen assets. Additionally, the Cetus team is seeking an on-chain vote from the Sui community to approve the recovery of the $162 million still frozen. Concurrently, they are working to trace and reclaim assets that were bridged out, primarily to Ethereum, by collaborating with external partners.

Despite these efforts, the recovery process has faced significant challenges. Users remain in a state of uncertainty as the protocol's aggregator service is back online, but core liquidity pools are still undergoing extensive data recovery. The team has pledged full transparency and is dedicating all resources to fund recovery, negotiating with the hacker, and coordinating a governance vote with Sui validators. However, frustration persists due to unclear communication and the absence of concrete timelines. Concerns about compensation and the recoverability of user funds remain unresolved, increasing pressure on the team to deliver tangible results.

The Cetus team has expressed their commitment to pursuing the maximum possible recovery of affected users' liquidity funds. They have stated that they will mobilize all available financial resources of the protocol to restore as much as possible, with the ultimate goal of covering user losses to the greatest extent possible. This incident underscores the ongoing challenges faced by decentralized exchanges in securing their platforms and protecting user assets.