On May 22, Cetus, a decentralized exchange (DEX) within the Sui ecosystem, suffered a hacking attack that resulted in losses of approximately $223 million. The incident had a significant impact on the entire ecosystem, triggering user panic and directly causing an outflow of funds from the chain. According to on-chain data, the Total Value Locked (TVL) of the Sui network plummeted from a peak of around $2.1 billion to a low of $1.57 billion, a decline of over 25%. The ecosystem as a whole faced a severe test.

After the incident, Cetus quickly took emergency measures. With the cooperation of the majority of Sui validator nodes, the Cetus team successfully froze the two main wallet addresses used by the attacker to transfer funds. At the same time, Cetus rapidly collaborated with the Sui security team and multiple security audit firms to conduct a comprehensive audit of the smart contracts and formulated a plan for user asset recovery. In addition, the Cetus team invested its entire cash reserve of $7 million and obtained a loan of 30 million USDC from the Sui Foundation to compensate users for their losses.

On June 8, the Cetus protocol officially resumed operations, reopening all functions, including trading and liquidity management. The liquidity of the affected pools recovered to 85%-99%. Cetus also pledged to allocate 15% of the protocol's total token supply to compensate affected users, with 5% immediately claimable and 10% to be unlocked linearly over the next year.

Despite the significant impact of the incident, the TVL of the Sui ecosystem is gradually recovering. As of now, the TVL has rebounded to $1.92 billion, close to the level before the incident. This recovery not only indicates that user confidence is returning but also reflects that some protocols are attracting new capital inflows, playing a stabilizing role.

How Did the Sui Ecosystem Recover After the $223 Million Security Incident?

During this "post-disaster recovery" process, four protocols stood out in terms of TVL and user growth: Momentum, Turbos, Bluefin, and Kai.

Momentum: The Growing ve(3,3) DEX

Momentum is the first native ve(3,3) mechanism DEX on Sui. By combining the governance token veMO with voting incentives, users can earn a share of trading fees and protocol incentives by locking assets, encouraging long-term participation and protocol governance. This model, originally from Curve, effectively motivates liquidity providers (LPs), token holders, and protocol governance participants.

Since its launch in March of this year, Momentum has seen rapid growth in TVL and trading volume. As of now, its TVL has exceeded $89 million, reaching a historical high and becoming one of the most outstanding protocols in the Sui ecosystem. Currently, Momentum's total trading volume has surpassed $3.6 billion, with over 420,000 cumulative users. Recently, Momentum completed a new strategic financing round led by OKX Ventures and participated in by Coinbase Ventures, further enhancing its ability to expand its ecosystem.

Turbos: The Safe Haven in Crisis

Turbos is a DEX that was deployed on the first day of the Sui mainnet launch. In terms of architectural design, Turbos emphasizes modular decoupling, with each functional module being relatively independent. This structure effectively reduces systemic risk from a technical standpoint. As a result, during the Cetus security incident, Turbos' contracts did not involve any vulnerable functions, and the entire platform remained unaffected.

After the incident, Turbos quickly launched a self-inspection and invited multiple third-party security firms, including Mysten, OtterSec, MoveBit, and CertiK, to conduct independent audits. The results confirmed that the vulnerability did not affect Turbos' normal operation. More importantly, while other platforms suspended services, Turbos continued to operate stably without any trading interruptions, demonstrating the platform's technical maturity and security resilience.

From the TVL data, after the Cetus incident stabilized, the capital inflow to Turbos accelerated significantly. Driven by the recovery of market confidence, several mainstream Memecoins transferred most of their liquidity to Turbos, including LOFI, reflecting the market's recognition of its technical stability and security.

Bluefin: Focused on On-Chain Derivatives Trading

Bluefin is a protocol specializing in decentralized derivatives trading, offering financial products such as perpetual contracts to users. Its product structure relies on on-chain matching and clearing mechanisms, providing high transparency and operational stability. Bluefin's matching engine optimizes trading efficiency while reducing slippage, making it suitable for medium-to-high-frequency traders and users of hedging strategies.

Currently, the Bluefin platform maintains relatively stable trading activity and continues to expand its user base and product portfolio, making it an important part of the derivatives market on Sui.

Kai Protocol: Automated Asset Management Platform

Kai is a protocol that provides automated strategy management, focusing on offering on-chain asset allocation and yield aggregation services to users. Users can deploy strategy pools to gain automatic reinvestment and risk-adjusted functions, reducing operational complexity.

Kai's mechanism is suitable for users who wish to achieve stable returns with lower participation levels. Its strategy portfolio is also continuously expanding to cover investment needs with different risk preferences. The platform has attracted a group of users who prefer stable investments, and its TVL is on a steady growth trend.

Overall, although the Cetus incident caused a temporary setback to the Sui ecosystem, it also served as a test of the ecosystem's resilience. The stable growth of Momentum, Turbos, Bluefin, and Kai not only supported the TVL in the short term but also demonstrated their comprehensive strength in mechanism design, security strategies, and user attractiveness. As the ecosystem recovery progresses and user confidence gradually returns, Sui is gradually emerging from the shadow of the black swan event and moving towards a new phase.

On May 22, Cetus, a decentralized exchange (DEX) within the Sui ecosystem, suffered a hacking attack that resulted in losses of approximately $223 million. The incident had a significant impact on the entire ecosystem, triggering user panic and directly causing an outflow of funds from the chain. According to on-chain data, the Total Value Locked (TVL) of the Sui network plummeted from a peak of around $2.1 billion to a low of $1.57 billion, a decline of over 25%. The ecosystem as a whole faced a severe test.

After the incident, Cetus quickly took emergency measures. With the cooperation of the majority of Sui validator nodes, the Cetus team successfully froze the two main wallet addresses used by the attacker to transfer funds. At the same time, Cetus rapidly collaborated with the Sui security team and multiple security audit firms to conduct a comprehensive audit of the smart contracts and formulated a plan for user asset recovery. In addition, the Cetus team invested its entire cash reserve of $7 million and obtained a loan of 30 million USDC from the Sui Foundation to compensate users for their losses.

On June 8, the Cetus protocol officially resumed operations, reopening all functions, including trading and liquidity management. The liquidity of the affected pools recovered to 85%-99%. Cetus also pledged to allocate 15% of the protocol's total token supply to compensate affected users, with 5% immediately claimable and 10% to be unlocked linearly over the next year.

Despite the significant impact of the incident, the TVL of the Sui ecosystem is gradually recovering. As of now, the TVL has rebounded to $1.92 billion, close to the level before the incident. This recovery not only indicates that user confidence is returning but also reflects that some protocols are attracting new capital inflows, playing a stabilizing role.

How Did the Sui Ecosystem Recover After the $223 Million Security Incident?

During this "post-disaster recovery" process, four protocols stood out in terms of TVL and user growth: Momentum, Turbos, Bluefin, and Kai.

Momentum: The Growing ve(3,3) DEX

Momentum is the first native ve(3,3) mechanism DEX on Sui. By combining the governance token veMO with voting incentives, users can earn a share of trading fees and protocol incentives by locking assets, encouraging long-term participation and protocol governance. This model, originally from Curve, effectively motivates liquidity providers (LPs), token holders, and protocol governance participants.

Since its launch in March of this year, Momentum has seen rapid growth in TVL and trading volume. As of now, its TVL has exceeded $89 million, reaching a historical high and becoming one of the most outstanding protocols in the Sui ecosystem. Currently, Momentum's total trading volume has surpassed $3.6 billion, with over 420,000 cumulative users. Recently, Momentum completed a new strategic financing round led by OKX Ventures and participated in by Coinbase Ventures, further enhancing its ability to expand its ecosystem.

Turbos: The Safe Haven in Crisis

Turbos is a DEX that was deployed on the first day of the Sui mainnet launch. In terms of architectural design, Turbos emphasizes modular decoupling, with each functional module being relatively independent. This structure effectively reduces systemic risk from a technical standpoint. As a result, during the Cetus security incident, Turbos' contracts did not involve any vulnerable functions, and the entire platform remained unaffected.

After the incident, Turbos quickly launched a self-inspection and invited multiple third-party security firms, including Mysten, OtterSec, MoveBit, and CertiK, to conduct independent audits. The results confirmed that the vulnerability did not affect Turbos' normal operation. More importantly, while other platforms suspended services, Turbos continued to operate stably without any trading interruptions, demonstrating the platform's technical maturity and security resilience.

From the TVL data, after the Cetus incident stabilized, the capital inflow to Turbos accelerated significantly. Driven by the recovery of market confidence, several mainstream Memecoins transferred most of their liquidity to Turbos, including LOFI, reflecting the market's recognition of its technical stability and security.

Bluefin: Focused on On-Chain Derivatives Trading

Bluefin is a protocol specializing in decentralized derivatives trading, offering financial products such as perpetual contracts to users. Its product structure relies on on-chain matching and clearing mechanisms, providing high transparency and operational stability. Bluefin's matching engine optimizes trading efficiency while reducing slippage, making it suitable for medium-to-high-frequency traders and users of hedging strategies.

Currently, the Bluefin platform maintains relatively stable trading activity and continues to expand its user base and product portfolio, making it an important part of the derivatives market on Sui.

Kai Protocol: Automated Asset Management Platform

Kai is a protocol that provides automated strategy management, focusing on offering on-chain asset allocation and yield aggregation services to users. Users can deploy strategy pools to gain automatic reinvestment and risk-adjusted functions, reducing operational complexity.

Kai's mechanism is suitable for users who wish to achieve stable returns with lower participation levels. Its strategy portfolio is also continuously expanding to cover investment needs with different risk preferences. The platform has attracted a group of users who prefer stable investments, and its TVL is on a steady growth trend.

Overall, although the Cetus incident caused a temporary setback to the Sui ecosystem, it also served as a test of the ecosystem's resilience. The stable growth of Momentum, Turbos, Bluefin, and Kai not only supported the TVL in the short term but also demonstrated their comprehensive strength in mechanism design, security strategies, and user attractiveness. As the ecosystem recovery progresses and user confidence gradually returns, Sui is gradually emerging from the shadow of the black swan event and moving towards a new phase.