Cetus Comes Back Online After Devastating Exploit
Just two weeks after suffering a massive exploit, Cetus Protocol has officially relaunched its decentralized exchange services on the Sui and Aptos blockchains. The $223 million hack, which targeted its concentrated liquidity market maker (CLMM) pools, had temporarily crippled one of DeFi’s most notable protocols. But now, with a mix of treasury injections and external funding, Cetus is working to put its community back on track.
To stabilize affected pools, Cetus deployed $7 million in reserve assets and secured a $30 million USDC loan from the Sui Foundation. Liquidity has now been restored across the platform, with recovery rates ranging from 85% to 99%, depending on the pool’s exposure.
Those whose assets were in unaffected pools saw no disruption, while users impacted by the exploit can now claim CETUS compensation tokens using their position NFTs as certificates—even if they’ve already withdrawn all funds.
Hack Details and Immediate Response
The original exploit was linked to a vulnerability in the overflow check of Cetus’ liquidity calculation function, which hackers used to siphon off over $220 million. However, thanks to rapid coordination with validators, $162 million of the stolen assets were frozen.
In the days following the attack, Cetus launched an on-chain vote to approve the recovery process for the frozen funds. The team also offered the hacker a bounty in exchange for the remaining funds, warning of legal consequences if the deal wasn’t accepted. The hacker did not claim the bounty, and the Cetus team has since begun pursuing legal action across multiple jurisdictions.
Community Compensation Plan and Token Allocation
In a strategic move to rebuild user trust, Cetus has launched a compensation contract backed by its native CETUS tokens. The platform is allocating 15% of total CETUS supply for affected users—10% from the team’s remaining unvested tokens and 5% newly allocated.
Importantly, this compensation structure does not increase CETUS’s total supply, aiming instead to maintain inflation control while encouraging long-term community engagement.
Future Recovery Options and Treasury Strategy
Cetus has outlined several strategies for utilizing any future recovered assets. Users will have the option to exchange remaining CETUS for USDC during the compensation period or allow the protocol to repay its loan to the Sui Foundation. Once the compensation window closes, any remaining funds may be used to buy back CETUS tokens and store them in the community treasury for future growth and development.
The recovery and relaunch process shows Cetus is focused on transparency, restitution, and protocol resilience—a promising example of how a DeFi platform can bounce back from crisis.
