Cetus Protocol Relaunches After $223M DeFi Exploit

- Sui-based Cetus Protocol reopens after a major hack - Recovery involved freezing $162 million and securing substantial loans On June 9, 2025, The Block reported that Cetus Protocol successfully relaunched after recovering from a $223 million exploit that occurred on May 22, 2025. The hack, which led to significant losses, was caused by an integer overflow flaw in the protocol's smart contracts. The vulnerability resided in a shared math library used by Cetus's smart contracts. This critical flaw enabled an attacker to manipulate the system, effectively tricking it into overvaluing a single deposited token as millions of dollars. Subsequently, the hacker used a flash loan to create a liquidity position within a narrow price range, which caused miscalculations in liquidity inputs. Importantly, the attack primarily impacted the Sui-based pools, sparing the Aptos side of the protocol. Cetus Protocol promptly initiated recovery efforts. Shortly after the hack, Sui network validators successfully froze approximately $162 million of the stolen funds, which the protocol regained following a community governance vote. To cover the remaining losses, Cetus Protocol then utilized its entire $7 million cash reserves and also secured a $30 million USDC loan from the Sui Foundation. As a result of this collective effort, the affected liquidity pools were restored to between 85% and 99% of their original value. Furthermore, to compensate for any remaining shortfall, affected liquidity providers will receive CETUS tokens distributed over a 12-month linear unlock schedule. Cetus Protocol confirmed it patched the identified vulnerability. Moreover, before the relaunch, the protocol underwent a comprehensive audit and rebalanced all impacted liquidity pools. However, despite these measures, assets worth tens of millions of dollars still remain with the hacker, who has started laundering these funds through services like Tornado Cash. In response, Cetus Protocol is pursuing legal action and remains confident in recovering the remaining assets. Looking ahead, Cetus Protocol plans to enhance its security features. These planned improvements include additional comprehensive audits, an upgrade to its real-time monitoring system, the introduction of a new white-hat bounty program, and revisions to its product feature roadmap. As of June 9, 03:18 UTC, Aptos (APT) is trading at $4.682, with a 0.947% decrease in 24-hour trading volume. Meanwhile, as of June 9, 03:19 UTC, Sui (SUI) is trading at $3.207, with a 1.037% decrease in 24-hour trading volume.