Validators Approve Recovery of Frozen Funds
In a significant move towards restoring user trust, the Sui community has voted to return $162 million in frozen assets linked to the recent exploit of the decentralised exchange Cetus. The decision was finalised on 29 May following a governance proposal that received overwhelming support from Sui validators.
According to the network’s official governance page, 90.9% of validators voted in favour of the proposal, with only 1.5% abstaining and 7.2% not participating. The approved plan will see the frozen funds transferred to a multisignature wallet and held in trust until they can be distributed back to affected users.
Cetus Hack and Immediate Response
The Cetus protocol suffered an exploit on 22 May, resulting in the loss of over $220 million in digital assets. In a swift reaction, Sui validators successfully froze $162 million shortly after the incident, preventing further damage and enabling the possibility of recovery.
Despite criticism from some decentralisation advocates about the role of validators in freezing on-chain assets, others have commended the swift and coordinated response as a positive step in dealing with the rising number of attacks in the crypto space.
Community-Led Recovery Plan
The vote forms part of a wider recovery roadmap supported by the Sui Foundation and Cetus. The plan includes the deployment of funds from Cetus’s treasury and an emergency loan from the Sui Foundation to ensure complete repayment and restart of the protocol.

Sui’s official X (formerly Twitter) account confirmed the outcome, stating: “With this result, the impacted funds will be moved to a multisig wallet and held in trust until they can be returned to users according to the plan led by Cetus.”
Cetus Eyes Full Recovery Within a Week
Following the community’s approval, Cetus expressed its gratitude for the swift support and outlined its next steps. The protocol aims to restart operations and complete the full recovery process within a week. An upgrade will first be implemented by Sui validators to transfer the frozen assets, followed by Cetus initiating upgrades to its emergency recovery pool and restoring full protocol data.
In its latest update, Cetus added: “A dedicated compensation contract is under development and will undergo auditor review before deployment.”
Liquidity Access and Compensation Measures
Upon the full restart of the protocol, all liquidity providers in the affected pools will regain access to their recovered assets. Any remaining losses will be addressed through the compensation contract, ensuring users are adequately reimbursed.
This incident and its resolution highlight both the vulnerabilities and resilience of decentralised finance ecosystems. While questions remain around validator authority, the community’s response has paved the way for a swift and structured recovery.