Cetus Protocol Relaunches After $223 Million DeFi Exploit, Restores Up to 99% Liquidity

The exploit, one of the largest in the DeFi sector this year, exposed critical vulnerabilities in Cetus’ smart contract infrastructure.

CETUS IS BACK!
🌊🌊🌊🐳 pic.twitter.com/tyQ50VkEeg

— Cetus🐳 (@CetusProtocol) June 8, 2025

The attacker exploited an integer overflow bug in a shared math library used by Cetus’ smart contracts. This flaw allowed the attacker to artificially inflate the value of deposited tokens, thereby draining a significant portion of the protocol’s liquidity. In response, Sui blockchain validators quickly froze $162 million of the stolen funds. These funds were subsequently returned to Cetus, forming the backbone of the protocol’s recovery plan.

After a $223 million exploit, Cetus Protocol relaunched with a recovery plan that included $162 million returned from the attacker, $7 million from Cetus’s reserves, and a $30 million USDC loan from the Sui Foundation, restoring up to 99% liquidity.

These combined efforts have enabled Cetus to restore between 85% and 99% of the original liquidity for affected liquidity providers (LPs). For any remaining shortfall, Cetus will distribute CETUS tokens to LPs over a 12-month period, with a linear unlock schedule, unless further recoveries are made.

Cetus’ rapid and structured response highlights both the resilience of its team and the supportiveness of the Sui ecosystem. The incident has renewed industry focus on the risks associated with shared library vulnerabilities in DeFi protocols. Despite the setback, Cetus’ recovery efforts have allowed users to resume trading with renewed confidence in the platform’s security.

Meanwhile, Bluefin, the top DEX on Sui, has launched Bluefin7K, a Sui-native aggregator, offering users optimal trading rates and liquidity by routing trades across multiple Sui DEXs. Developed with 7K Smart Trading’s technology, this partnership allows both companies to operate independently while providing real-time price and liquidity discovery.

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