Cetus CLMM
Last changed 2026-11-02 · Fact-check review — Fact-check review (verdict: revise): the reviewer checked the page's claims against its sources; the trust score did not change. Version history →
Why this score
| Every page starts at | 65 |
| Concerns that are not fraud | -6.4 |
| Incidents it suffered (e.g. hacks) | -6.4 |
| Problems around it, caused by others | -0.8 |
| Long-running | +4 |
| Sum | 55 |
- 1 section set aside: the claims did not hold up in a fact-check, pending correction.
Score: 55/100 (kept between 0 and 100)
How scoring works →Page reliability: Fact-checked 2026-11-02 · 8 of 14 claims confirmed · 4 need better sources · 2 disputed
anchored·GMZ47F…5vzuSummary
Cetus Protocol is a concentrated liquidity market maker (CLMM) and the dominant decentralized exchange on the Sui Network, launched in 2023. On May 22, 2025, an arithmetic overflow vulnerability in its fixed-point math library enabled an attacker to drain approximately $223 million from liquidity pools in the largest DeFi exploit of 2025, of which roughly $162 million was subsequently frozen by Sui validators and later returned to affected users via an on-chain governance vote. The incident raised significant concerns about smart contract security, audit effectiveness, and the degree of decentralization on the Sui network.
Connected Entities
10 entities · 60 linked investigations- KuCoin→mentioned with→Uniswap(60%)
- KuCoin→mentioned with→ZachXBT(70%)
- KuCoin→mentioned with→Ethereum(60%)
- Aptos→mentioned with→Ethereum(80%)
- Aptos→mentioned with→Binance(70%)
- ZachXBT→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
- ZachXBT→mentioned with→Binance(60%)
- Binance→mentioned with→Ethereum(65%)
- Cetus CLMM→mentioned with→Wormhole(60%)
- Cetus CLMM→mentioned with→Sui(70%)
- + 18 more
Connected Through
9 shared actors · 569 investigationsDistinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.
- □Ethereumorganization
- □ZachXBTorganization
- □Binanceorganization
- ⌂Uniswapprotocol
1 submission awaiting moderator review.
Timeline(14 events)
May 2023
Cetus Protocol launches on Sui mainnet with CLMM architecture; CETUS token generation event conducted
May 2023
OtterSec and MoveBit complete initial security audits of Cetus smart contracts; arithmetic overflow path in get_delta_a not flagged as critical
April 2025
Zellic completes audit of Cetus codebase; no critical vulnerabilities identified
22 May 2025
Exploit begins at approximately 10:30 UTC; attacker exploits checked_shlw overflow bug to drain approximately $223 million from Cetus liquidity pools on Sui
22 May 2025
Attacker bridges approximately $61 million USDC from Sui to Ethereum via CCTP across 60+ transactions over 90 minutes; Ethereum receiving address: 0x89012a55cd6b88e407c9d4ae9b3425f55924919b
22 May 2025
Cetus suspends smart contracts; Sui validators coordinate to freeze approximately $162 million in attacker-controlled funds remaining on Sui
22 May 2025
Cetus team and private sector experts request Circle to freeze stolen USDC on Ethereum; Cetus offers $5 million bug bounty to attacker for return of funds
23 May 2025
Decentralization criticism erupts publicly; Justin Bons (Cyber Capital) and Duo Nine (YCC) argue Sui validator coordination demonstrates centralized fund control
26 May 2025
Sui Foundation publishes on-chain governance proposal to transfer frozen funds to a 4-of-6 multisig trust wallet held by Cetus, Sui Foundation, and OtterSec
29 May 2025
On-chain governance vote concludes early; validators representing 90.9% of stake vote yes; frozen funds transferred to multisig trust
June 2025
Circle blacklists attacker's Ethereum USDC address approximately one month after exploit; stolen USDC had already been converted to ETH, rendering blacklist ineffective for recovery
8 June 2025
Cetus Protocol relaunches at 03:00 UTC with full functionality restored; Sui Foundation $30 million USDC loan and $7 million protocol reserves deployed to replenish liquidity
10 June 2025
CETUS token compensation vesting begins; 5% of total supply immediately claimable, 10% to unlock linearly over 12 months for affected LPs
3 April 2026
ZachXBT publishes broader analysis alleging Circle failed to freeze approximately $420 million in illicit USDC across 15 incidents including Cetus; Cetus case cited as exhibit of delayed response
Decision Log
- slot 464445906 · hash DJHg4LvBoV1CJERnVaeHbNL5XcDZNow8hqLZDhvmkaUo
- slot 464445901 · hash 8vGPYZKUdHXh621zmSJuAdYG5HMX4nsc1byWCZyrzz8A
- slot 455369516 · hash GBXdGcDc4iEnLf5m8hjwNnFD3nYQw2BcaQiUU4jeNsN
- slot 420905978 · hash DA2bsPktsenmwv3ddNDa1bdhDmcHtqDHzXa4NxRP3a4L
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (4 decisions). 21 of 26 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:23 AM
last updated: 11/2/2026, 9:31:43 AM
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