Cetus Protocol, a prominent decentralized exchange on the Sui blockchain, suffered a critical $260 million exploit this week. The $260 million attack involved exploits on the protocol’s smart contract system and greatly impacted several liquidity pools on the network.
The bulk of the funds involved were in the form of SUI tokens and USDC and other linked assets belonging to the wider Sui ecosystem. Following immediate response action, teams were able to freeze almost $160 million in stolen funds from the attack.
The funds will be returned to Cetus platform-associated liquidity providers. Cetus developers and core network validators worked together in close coordination to prevent any further unauthorized transfers. During investigation, four addresses were found to hold stolen tokens on both the Sui and Ethereum chains.
Sui-based protocol builders and developers persist in their efforts to retrieve the additional $60 million from attacker addresses. Joint efforts from prominent exchanges as well as blockchain analytics companies will be used to monitor the attacker’s behavior patterns.
Cetus has resumed operations as a result of patching the underlying vulnerability and restoring trading services after undergoing security checks.
Cetus Protocol Restarts on Sui, Caution Remains
However, despite the platform’s comeback, user trust remains tenuous on the Sui DeFi ecosystem. Several decentralized apps experienced huge outflows of liquidity after the attack. Traders and providers of liquidity also raised warnings of future risks posed by lingering vulnerabilities present in the smart contracts in the system.
SUI token performance dropped by over 3% in 24 hours and stood at about $3.81 as market sentiment became negative. The Cetus token value declined by about 21% as a symbol of the community’s lost faith in the platform’s security system.
Active recovery efforts, increased transparency, and strong developer accountability are essential for rebuilding public trust. These measures will play a key role in replace confidence in the platform and the broader Sui ecosystem.
Restoration of trust might take longer and will be aided by institutional support and improve security requirements.
