Cetus Hack: Over $220M Stolen, $162M Frozen
On 22 May, Sui-based decentralized exchange (DEX) Cetus was exploited in a massive hack that caused the platform to lose over $220 million in digital assets. The platform moved quickly, freezing successfully about $162 million of the hacked assets on-chain.
In a surprising turn of events, Cetus has issued a $6 million white hat bounty against the attacker. The bounty is contingent upon the return of the stolen 20,920 ETH valued over $55 million, and the remainder of frozen assets.
“As a reward, you can keep 2,324 ETH ($6M) as a bounty… and we won’t take any other legal, intelligence, or public action,” Cetus announced in an on-chain message.
If the hacker doesn’t comply, it has threatened full legal and intelligence escalation, particularly if stolen funds are moved to mixers or off-ramped.
Crypto Hacks Soar as Security Remains a Top Priority
The Cetus breach is just symptomatic of a greater trend: cryptocurrency hacks are on the rise. $90 million was stolen in 15 breaches in April 2025 alone, a 124% increase on March’s $41 million lost.
This trend is followed by high-profile incidents like the February 2025 Bybit hack, in which over $1.4 billion was lost, showing the continuing vulnerabilities in decentralized protocols.
Sui Network’s Emergency Response Sparks Debate
Following the hack on Cetus, the Sui Network considered adding an emergency whitelist feature. This would allow certain transactions to bypass usual validation, which could revive jammed assets.
GitHub logs showed that validators were asked to roll out a patched codebase so they could capture the hacker’s funds. However, several validators shunned it and instead rejected only the transactions on the hacked assets.
It appears Sui team asked validators to roll out patched code… in an unsigned transaction,” tweeted Chaofan Shou, a software engineer at Solayer Labs.
Decentralization under Fire
The Sui Network’s emergency process was slammed by decentralization advocates who argue that any mechanism supporting transaction overrides compromises the very nature of a permissionless, decentralized blockchain.
Others, however, viewed the swift action as an inevitable evolution in decentralized decision-making.
“This is what real world decentralization looks like… responsive and aligned with the community,” said crypto sleuth Matteo.
Conclusion
The Cetus hack and Sui’s emergency measures highlight a critical tension in blockchain ecosystems: maintaining security while upholding decentralization. As the industry matures, responses to crises like these will shape both user trust and the evolution of decentralized networks.
