Sui Validators Freeze Majority of Stolen Funds in $220M Cetus Hack

The Cetus team is working with other stakeholders in the Sui ecosystem to freeze and recover all the stolen funds from the recent hack. The Cetus DEX, a decentralized crypto exchange built atop the Sui blockchain network, said $162 million of over $220 million stolen in a May 22 hack has been frozen.

According to the Cetus team, the DEX is working with the Sui Foundation and other entities within the ecosystem to recover the remainder of the funds. This collaborative effort aims to mitigate the damage caused by the hack and provide some relief to the victims.

The Sui Foundation has also confirmed that the Cetus hack is part of a growing trend of security incidents impacting the cryptocurrency and Web3 sectors in the first half of 2025. The increasing number of such incidents highlights the ongoing struggle with cybersecurity in the crypto industry, with many experts emphasizing the need for self-regulation and more robust defenses to prevent similar breaches.

The Cetus Hack: A Detailed Look

On May 22, the Cetus DEX was hacked in what is believed to be a smart contract code exploit that saw the DEX drained of approximately $223 million in user funds. This staggering loss has sent shockwaves throughout the crypto community and raised concerns about the security measures in place on popular exchanges.

According to the team behind the Extractor Web3 security notification tool, $63 million of the stolen funds were bridged to the Ethereum network. The Extractor team also identified a wallet address ending in "AF16" used by the threat actors to launder 20,000 Ether (ETH), valued at roughly $53 million.

Recovery Efforts and Asset Freeze

The recovery efforts and the asset freeze coordinated by different projects, platforms, and validators in the Sui ecosystem drew mixed reactions from the crypto community. While some saw this as a positive step towards recovering stolen funds, others raised concerns about the network's censorship resistance and the potential for validators to unfairly restrict access to wallets.

"Good news for the victims, but if validators, only 114 in total, can freeze wallets when they want, it raises a major question about the network's censorship resistance. Sui is anything but decentralized," one user wrote in response to this issue. The incident serves as a reminder of the ongoing challenges facing the cryptocurrency industry and the need for continued innovation and improvement in security measures.

Conclusion

The recent Cetus hack highlights the ongoing struggles with cybersecurity in the crypto industry. While efforts are being made to recover stolen funds and improve security, it is essential that the industry continues to prioritize self-regulation and robust defenses to prevent similar breaches in the future.