On May 22, 2025, the Cetus protocol – a decentralized trading platform on the Sui network – was hacked, draining approximately $223 million. A few hours later, 114 validators coordinated to freeze $160 million and prevented the suspected addresses from broadcasting any new transactions. What seemed a rapid security response revealed a conceptual rift at the core of the idea of decentralization.
Technically, Sui does not require a fork (Fork: a split that creates a new version of the blockchain) or a protocol upgrade; the validators simply modified an external configuration file to isolate the addresses. Joining the validators' club requires staking 30 million SUI, making the decision-making circle small and costly and shifting governance power to a minority that holds the largest capital.
This freeze has fueled the debate on network neutrality and censorship resistance (Censorship Resistance: the ability for anyone to send a transaction without fear of being banned). The real privilege has proven to be in the hands of those controlling the major stakes, undermining the concept of reliable neutrality and turning blockchain freedom into a political privilege granted by majority stakers.
This is not an isolated precedent; we witnessed the Ethereum split following the DAO in 2016, the multiple restarts of Solana, and account freezes on the BNB Chain. Each time, what we call the social layer (Social Layer: human consensus outside the code) intervenes to break rules that were supposed to be 'immutable.' The Sui incident shows that intervention can happen without a split or service interruption, lowering its cost and making its recurrence more likely.
Having a 'kill switch' on the network practically brings it closer to a compliant financial entity. Entities like OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) may later demand similar freezes against sanctioned entities, transforming blockchain from a parallel system into an extension of the traditional banking compliance framework.
To avoid this predicament, designers need a transparent emergency framework: fragmented keys (Multi-Sig: splitting control keys among several individuals) activated conditionally on a binding on-chain vote, with an appeal window allowing users to contest before the decision is finalized. Only then can governance achieve a true balance between security, transparency, and censorship resistance.