Cetus Protocol, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Sui blockchain, has officially restarted operations following a $220 million exploit in May. The team is now planning to transition to an open-source model with increased transparency and community engagement.
🔓 Open-Source Move and New Security Push
In a June 7 Medium post, Cetus announced its goal to go fully open-source, alongside launching a white bounty program to incentivize community-led security improvements.
The team said it had:
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Patched the exploited vulnerability
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Restored pricing and pool data
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Audited all fixes and contract upgrades
💰 $37M Replenishment Effort After Hack
On May 22, attackers exploited a pricing mechanism flaw in Cetus’ smart contracts, draining major liquidity pools. The protocol managed to freeze $162 million of the stolen funds soon after.
To replenish affected pools, Cetus combined:
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$7M in cash reserves
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A $30M USDC loan from the Sui Foundation
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Partially recovered assets from the attacker
Despite these efforts, recovery rates currently range between 85% and 99%, depending on the extent of the losses in each pool.
📉 CETUS Token Slides After Relaunch
As part of user compensation, Cetus is allocating 15% of its token supply:
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5% unlocked immediately
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10% released gradually over the next year starting June 10
However, the CETUS token has reacted negatively, dropping over 12% in the past 24 hours to around $0.11, according to CoinGecko.
⚖️ Legal Action and Ongoing Recovery
Despite offering a $6M white hat bounty, the exploiter did not return the stolen funds. Cetus confirmed that they are pursuing legal action in multiple jurisdictions with the help of law enforcement agencies.
“We are highly confident that successful arrest and recovery of the remaining assets is only a matter of time,” said the team.
Plans are also in place to upgrade monitoring systems and conduct additional rounds of security audits to prevent future attacks.
As Cetus turns toward transparency and community involvement, its open-source pivot could be a critical step in rebuilding trust.
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