Sui Unlocks $162M: Cetus Reimburses Victims

Validators controlling nearly 91% of Sui's stake have strongly approved an on-chain proposal to unlock some $162 million after a major exploit disrupted operations.

Approval of this decision allows Cetus, the decentralised exchange hit by the attack, to fully reimburse users and fully resume operations.

A 48-hour referendum concluded on 29 May with over two-thirds of network participants in favour of the measure, according to a recent social announcement by Cetus. The approved transaction orders validators to move confiscated tokens to a multi-signature wallet controlled by Cetus together with security auditor OtterSec and the Sui Foundation.

"In just 48 hours, the Sui community came together to approve a crucial on-chain vote - marking a pivotal moment for the entire ecosystem. Cetus expresses the deepest gratitude to more than 90 per cent of the validators and stakers who voted in favour," Cetus said in a post.

An official statement from the Sui Foundation confirms that the funds will be held in trust until Cetus completes its repayment plan. The Foundation commended the stakers and node operators for their active role in bringing the vote to a swift conclusion, emphasising that the governance of the protocol depends on community engagement.

This decisive action resolved one of the biggest uncertainties that arose after the 22 May attack, which caused a drain of $223 million in cash. Validators were able to freeze the malicious address after 61 million had already been transferred to Ethereum, while 162 million remained blocked on the Sui network. On 27 May, Cetus informed users that it was able to repay the bridge funds using its own reserves and a loan from the Sui Foundation, but needed community approval to unlock the frozen balance.

Through an eight-step recovery strategy, Cetus plans to release completely within a week. The first step is a protocol upgrade by validators to transfer blocked assets to the shared wallet. Engineers have completed an emergency update for the concentrated liquidity market maker contract and have already sent it out for review.

The recovery team will focus on:

• the restoring of pool data,
• the calculation of the liquidity deficit for each participant,
• the reconversion of the recovered tokens back into their original structure.

Cetus intends to adopt minimal-impact strategies to reduce further slippage during the rebalancing of pools, recognising that attackers performed extensive swaps during the exploit. The development team is working on the creation of a compensation contract that will distribute any unrecovered amounts once the auditors' review is complete.

Cetus promised clear and continuous updates during the recovery week, stating that the team is fully prepared to meet the schedule. Validators have completed the update, and funds have been transferred to the multi-sig wallet, allowing Cetus to refund users and reopen the exchange.