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By Shaurya Malwa|Edited by Parikshit Mishra
May 28, 2025, 6:04 a.m.
- Cetus Protocol, the largest DEX on the Sui blockchain, secured a loan from the Sui Foundation to fully compensate users after a $223 million exploit.
- The attacker used spoof tokens to exploit price curves, draining real assets from liquidity pools, with $162 million in stolen tokens frozen on-chain.
- Cetus plans to begin reimbursing users immediately, using the loan and its reserves, while awaiting a community vote on using frozen funds for full recovery.
Cetus Protocol, the largest decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Sui blockchain, has secured a loan from the Sui Foundation to compensate users in full following a $223 million exploit last week.
These funds apply only to cover the bridged assets, and are separate from the frozen funds subject to an onchain community vote.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
“Using our cash and token treasuries, we are now in a position to fully cover the stolen assets currently off-chain if the locked funds are recovered through the upcoming community vote,” Cetus said in an X post.
“This includes a critical loan from the Sui Foundation, making a 100% recovery for all affected users possible.”
The recovery plan hinges partly on the outcome of a pending on-chain governance proposal, which would authorize the use of frozen funds to complete user reimbursements.
“These are extraordinary measures taken to protect the Sui community,” the Sui Foundation said in a statement, adding that a “full recovery is possible” with the community’s support.
The exploit of Cetus last week involved an attacker manipulating spoof tokens, such as BULLA, to exploit flawed price curves and reserve logic, allowing them to drain SUI, USDC, and other real assets from liquidity pools without depositing equivalent value.
At the time, over $162 million in stolen tokens were frozen on-chain, while the remainder were bridged out through multiple paths. The attacker’s wallet (which is still active) was last seen holding over 12.9 million SUI, with additional assets likely swapped or obfuscated across networks.
In response, Cetus paused its smart contracts and initiated an investigation, while its governance token, CETUS, dropped nearly 40% at the time. Trading activity across Sui’s DeFi ecosystem slowed amid liquidity concerns and broader scrutiny of protocol safety.
Now, with the new secured loan from the Sui Foundation, Cetus says it is in a position to begin reimbursing users immediately.
Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis.
Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA.
He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.
