Cetus posts $5M bounty for hacker’s ID amid centralization concerns on Sui freeze

3 weeks ago

Cetus Protocol posted a $5 cardinal reward connected May 23 for accusation that identifies and leads to the apprehension of the attacker who extracted $223 cardinal from its decentralized exchange connected the Sui network. 

Announced connected May 23, the connection is coordinated with cybersecurity steadfast Inca Digital and volition beryllium funded by the Sui Foundation if the extremity proves decisive.

Informants indispensable email the perpetrator’s name, location, and supporting impervious with the taxable “Cetus lead.” The DEX added that it would retreat immoderate civilian enactment and cancel the bounty should the exploiter instrumentality the assets and judge the earlier colony proposal.

Notably, the connection comes amid centralization concerns regarding Sui pursuing the freezing of $162 cardinal by galore of its 114 validators.

Whitehat connection sets the stage

Hours earlier the nationalist bounty, Cetus utilized an on-chain transaction to present a separate connection to the attacker connected Sui and Ethereum (ETH) blockchains. 

That enactment offered a $6 cardinal retention fee, equivalent to 2,324 ETH, successful speech for the instrumentality of 20,920 ETH and each frozen amounts connected Sui. 

The squad said it had mapped the exploiter’s Ethereum wallets and was coordinating with US national authorities, FinCEN, the Seychelles Police Force, selected defense-sector partners, large exchanges, and span operators. 

The ultimatum warned that immoderate effort to launder funds would trigger a planetary law-enforcement escalation.

Per the protocol’s May 22 incidental disclosure connected X, the attacker targeted a flaw successful Cetus’ pricing mechanism, prompting an contiguous intermission of each smart-contract activity. The project’s blockchain information shows that the exploit yielded $223 cardinal successful tokens. 

Of that sum, $61 cardinal was moved to Ethereum via bridges, portion the remaining $162 cardinal was frozen by Sui web validators.

Cetus has not revealed erstwhile mean trading volition resume oregon whether the squad volition instrumentality codification changes earlier reactivating the contracts.

Validator enactment sparks decentralization debate

According to its block explorer, Sui hosts 114 progressive validators. On May 22, Sui stated that a wide plurality agreed to cull immoderate transaction originating from the attacker’s wallets soon aft the breach.

The corporate frost prevented the remaining $162 cardinal transportation and locked the tokens on-chain. 

Gautham Santhosh, co-founder of Polynomialfi, wrote connected X that the crypto assemblage is present weighing the payment of accelerated plus extortion against the accusation that validators tin suspend circumstantial accounts astatine will.

Although helium highlighted that the process demanded statement and was not arbitrary, the occurrence has changed the information assumptions regarding layer-1 blockchains.

The station Cetus posts $5M bounty for hacker’s ID amid centralization concerns connected Sui freeze appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.

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