Cetus Launches Protocol Vote to Reclaim $162M in Frozen Assets After $223M Sui Exploit
Just days after a major exploit rocked the Sui blockchain, decentralized exchange Cetus has announced a bold recovery effort aimed at regaining control of $162 million in frozen hacker funds — without the hacker’s cooperation.
The proposal hinges on a protocol-level upgrade that would override the attacker’s control and reroute the assets to a secure, multisig wallet. But the decision is now in the hands of the Sui community.
A Community-Driven Recovery
The initiative follows a devastating $223 million exploit on Cetus caused by a vulnerability in its automated market maker and oracle logic. The attack enabled hackers to manipulate liquidity pools by bypassing a faulty overflow protection mechanism.
In response, the Sui Foundation has released new code enabling an on-chain vote. Voting opened on May 27 at 1 p.m. PT and will run for up to seven days. SUI holders can either vote directly or delegate their stake to validators, who will cast votes as “yes,” “no,” or “abstain.” The Sui Foundation’s own stake has been excluded to maintain neutrality.
For the vote to succeed, more than 50% of the total stake must participate, and a majority must support the upgrade. If the math adds up before the full seven days, the vote can be closed early.
A Two-Transaction Protocol Upgrade
If the vote passes, Cetus will initiate a protocol upgrade allowing two aliased addresses to perform just one transaction each — moving the assets from the hacker-controlled wallets to a multisig wallet co-managed by Cetus, OtterSec, and the Sui Foundation.
Cetus stated that with help from the Sui Foundation and treasury resources, it is now in a position to make affected users whole: “This includes a critical loan from the Sui Foundation, making a 100% recovery for all affected users possible.”
Majority of Votes Still Pending
As of early May 28, 37.3% of the vote has been cast in favor of the upgrade, with no “no” votes recorded — but 62.7% of the vote remains outstanding.
Blockchain security firm PeckShield reported that $61.5 million of the stolen USDC has already been bridged to Ethereum, with the remainder still frozen on Sui.
Meanwhile, the price of SUI has rebounded 6.9% in the last 24 hours, climbing to $3.70 after dipping to $3.82 in the immediate wake of the exploit.
The outcome of the vote will determine whether Sui’s community can take a firm, unified stand against on-chain exploits — or if the attacker walks away with the remaining funds.