Cetus Offers $6 Million for Return of Stolen ETH
- Cetus Protocol proposes settlement after cryptocurrency theft
- Sui validators block hacker's transactions
- Critics point to centralization in the Sui blockchain network
DeFi protocol Cetus, based on the Sui blockchain, has confirmed that it will offer a $6 million ETH bounty to the hacker responsible for the attack that drained around $56 million worth of crypto assets. To proposal includes the return of approximately 20.920 ETH, in exchange for which the attacker will be able to keep 2.324 ETH as an “ethical reward”.
The initiative was announced in a post on X, formerly Twitter, where the Cetus team revealed that it had identified the Ethereum wallet used in the cyberattack and had begun direct negotiations with the perpetrator. The message sent by the protocol emphasizes that no legal, public or intelligence measures will be taken if the agreement is accepted and the funds are returned in full.
📜 Dear Sui community, thank you for your patience while our team works on the incident investigation and resolution.
Since taking the actions indicated in our previous announcement, we have also done the following:
1. We engaged the broader ecosystem, Sui team, and related… https://t.co/Gs1EWXZ6AD
— Cetus🐳 (@CetusProtocol) May 22, 2025
The attack occurred by exploiting a vulnerability in the smart contracts of Cetus’ liquidity pools, with a significant portion of the assets being quickly converted to USDC and then to ETH. With the help of analytics firm Inca Digital, the protocol tracked the addresses used and proposed an amicable solution.
Sui Network, in immediate response to the incident, mobilized validators who acted to “ignore” transactions originating from addresses linked to the hacker. This action was made possible through collaboration between the Sui Foundation, other DeFi projects, and validators, resulting in the suspension of approximately US$162 million in assets.
However, this move has raised concerns among experts and parts of the cryptocurrency community. Justin Bons, founder of Cyber Capital, highlighted the centralization of Sui, noting that validators were able to censor transactions in a coordinated manner. “The short answer is YES; the more important question is why?” he commented, referring to the control exercised by the network’s founders.
According to analysts such as 0xTodd, Sui developers introduced a whitelisting function after the funds were locked, suggesting that specific wallets could bypass security checks — possibly in anticipation of having the funds returned.
