Is Cetus Protocol Safe?
Risk Grade: D+ (58/100)
Cetus Protocol is rated as high risk — extreme novelty, critical interactions, unproven at scale.
High risk — already lost $223M to a math bug and TVL has collapsed 90%, signaling deep loss of trust
A decentralized exchange on Sui that was hacked for $223M in May 2025 through a math bug in its code. It currently holds about $33M, down from $300M+ before the exploit. Its D grade reflects the severity of the hack, the possibility of the same bug class reappearing, and deeply eroded user trust.
TVL
$33M
Mechanisms
7
Interactions
5
Value Grade
D-
Key Risks for Cetus Protocol Users
A single math error let an attacker create billions of dollars in fake liquidity and drain $223M in under 15 minutes. The rebuilt code may still contain similar overflow bugs
The Sui Foundation froze the blockchain to stop the attack. A second exploit would force another freeze, raising serious questions about whether Sui is truly decentralized
The same code runs on both Sui and Aptos. A bug found on one chain can be copied to the other before a fix goes out, doubling the damage
Top Risk Factors
- •$223M exploit in May 2025 via integer overflow in liquidity math library (integer-mate)
- •Concentrated liquidity positions amplify impermanent loss and manipulation risk on Sui/Move
- •Post-exploit TVL collapsed from $300M+ to ~$33M, signaling deep loss of user confidence
Risk Score Breakdown
Cetus Protocol's highest risk area is Interaction Severity (20/20). Here's how each dimension contributes to the overall 58/100 score:
Read the Full Cetus Protocol Risk Report
This protocol has 3 collapse scenarios. 2 critical and 2 high-severity interaction risks identified. See the full mechanism classification, interaction matrix, and deep-dive recommendations.
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