How exaggerated is this? The leading DEX protocol in the Sui ecosystem, Cetus, was suddenly revealed to have suffered an epic attack, with hackers madly siphoning off $223 million through a smart contract vulnerability. This figure ranks among the top five in the entire history of cryptocurrencies!
But the subsequent storyline can be described as a magical three-act play —
Sui officials raised the alarm, and within 30 minutes, the entire network of validators collectively activated their defenses. These "gatekeepers" who control the heartbeat of the blockchain directly locked the hacker's wallet, intercepting all suspicious transactions on the spot and effectively nipping the subsequent attacks in the bud.
The response from the Cetus team is a benchmark for the industry: they first cut off the network and paused the contract, and then rallied over 20 DeFi protocols to pursue the attacker across the network. The most impressive part is that they boldly declared: "We will do whatever it takes to reimburse users for the stolen funds!" This is a breath of fresh air in a crypto world where exit scams are rampant.
Now the entire network is speculating: is this hacker a technical genius who bypassed multiple defenses, or is there an insider involved? The Sui Foundation dispatched a security task force overnight, and it is said that they have already identified abnormal traffic at the cross-chain bridge. Observant individuals noticed that after the hacker's success, they actually attempted to launder money through Stargate, but were interrupted on the spot by the validator alliance.
This collective action by Sui validators set a new record; traditional public chains would need at least three days to mobilize this many nodes, but they only took three hours.
The DeFi insurance pool may face a significant test; if the $230 million hole is filled, it could trigger the industry's first "community-backed" compensation case.
The hacker targeting the Sui ecosystem is by no means a coincidence — this new public chain's TVL just broke $1 billion and it suffered a heavy blow, possibly indicating a precision strike against the new ecosystem.
Now the entire crypto community is waiting for Cetus's complete report; after all, if this case is resolved satisfactorily, it could definitely be written into the blockchain security textbook. However, when validators have the power to shut down any address at any time, should we celebrate efficiency or be wary of centralization?
