The Sui blockchain community is about to authorize a crucial governance vote, which could enable the potential Sui blockchain recovery of $162 million frozen funds after a major Cetus decentralized exchange exploit. The blockchain community will conduct an on-chain vote from May 27th to June 3rd to authorize moving stolen assets into a multi-signature wallet, which represents a crucial phase in recovering user funds.
On May 22nd, attackers drained over $220 million worth of digital assets from Cetus through a security breach. The prompt response resulted in the rapid freezing of most of the stolen money. Cetus has shown sincere remorse for the event while promising complete reimbursement to all affected users, which depends heavily on both the community vote results and the implementation of a full recovery strategy.
Rapid Response to a Major Sui DeFi Breach
A major security breach on May 22nd resulted in Cetus’ decentralized exchange losing more than $200 million in digital assets. The Cetus team acted swiftly to freeze about $162 million of the Cetus exploit funds, which stopped any additional unauthorized activities. Cetus submitted a community governance vote request to Sui blockchain validators to secure approval for recovering and transferring frozen assets, which initiated important discussions about centralization risks and rapid decentralized finance security responses.
š¢ New Progress Update ā A Path Forward Together!
— Cetusš³ (@CetusProtocol) May 27, 2025
Since the incident, we have reflected deeply on the incident and its impact on our users, partners, and the broader ecosystem. We are deeply sorry and take this responsibility seriously. Today, we want to share a meaningful stepā¦
The main goal of this essential on-chain vote is to obtain community approval for relocating the frozen funds, integral to the overarching Sui blockchain recovery efforts, into an exclusive multi-signature trust account. The transfer of frozen assets plays a critical role in Cetus’s recovery plan alongside its strategy of using existing treasury resources and obtaining an emergency loan from the Sui Foundation. The coordinated recovery operations will deliver full restitution to all impacted individuals if the vote passes successfully.
Sui Governance: Community-Led Asset Recovery
The seven-day on-chain vote, crucial for successful Sui blockchain recovery, moves quickly toward approval because most Sui validators have voted to support the recovery strategy. The recent reporting shows that more than 55% of validators have expressed their support, which demonstrates that the necessary majority and participation criteria have probably been fulfilled. The substantial positive sentiment indicates that changes to the outcome will probably remain minimal before the approaching June 3rd deadline, which might enable an early resolution.
Cetus has requested a community driven vote to recover the funds frozen following last weekās hack.
— Sui (@SuiNetwork) May 27, 2025
In response, the Sui Foundation has released code for an onchain community vote. Sui validators can cast votes, and Sui holders can also vote directly through stake delegation.⦠https://t.co/pVLTItN0MH
The governance structure of Sui permits tokenholders to entrust their stakes to validators whose voting patterns match their preferences, enabling decisions to be driven by the community. The Sui Foundation has chosen to abstain from voting on this proposal to demonstrate its dedication to decentralized decision-making. The Foundation maintains a vital role as a backup signer for the multi-signature wallet, which preserves functionality if achieving quorum becomes impossible.
Multi-Sig Security and the Reimbursement Blueprint
Cetus has firmly promised to reimburse all victims of the security breach entirely, and this promise depends on recovering the frozen Cetus exploit funds through the current community voting process. Cetus strengthened its commitment by securing essential additional funds through its token reserves and fiat liquidity alongside an emergency loan facility from the Sui Foundation to fully cover all stolen assets.

A foundational element of the recovery plan includes the creation of a secure multi-signature wallet to manage both storage and distribution of the retrieved funds. Six independent signers, including Cetus representatives alongside key ecosystem stakeholders and blockchain security company OtterSec, will control this wallet. A group of at least four out of six signers needs to authorize transactions to ensure both decentralization and security, while OtterSec confirms repayment claims before releasing funds.
Restoring Trust and Bolstering Decentralized Finance Security
The ongoing Sui blockchain recovery effort focused on the Cetus exploit represents a crucial test for decentralized finance systems. Freezing most of the stolen assets and the community’s proactive governance decision showcase an effective security response. The initiative seeks to restore lost assets and rebuild user confidence within the Sui ecosystem following a major security breach.
Even though Cetus has committed to starting recovery procedures without delay, no matter what the vote concludes, they can only deliver complete user refunds once they acquire access to the frozen assets. The changing environment of decentralized finance security now requires quick community decision-making and advanced multi-signature protections to minimize damage from attacks while maintaining user confidence in blockchain technology.