Jupiter has just revealed plans to launch its advanced lending platform, Jupiter Lend, later this summer—sending its token JUP soaring 14% as investors welcomed the protocol’s expansion into DeFi lending. On May 23, Jupiter (JUP), a leading DEX aggregator on…

Jupiter announces Jupiter Lend launch for summer as JUP price surges 14%

The bounty offer to recover stolen funds from Sui-based decentralized exchange 
(DEX) Cetus closely resembles a successful strategy used by a Solana project 
three years ago.
It turns out that Cetus shares the same development team as Crema Finance, a 
Solana-based DeFi project that suffered a $9-million hack in 2022 but 
recovered most of the funds by negotiating with its hacker. Now, Cetus is 
relying on the same strategy.
Cetus is asking the hacker to return all but $6 million, or 2,324 Ether (ETH), 
of the stolen funds in exchange for a promise not to pursue legal action. The 
protocol lost $223 million to an exploit on May 22.
The size of the bounty has sparked backlash from users, with many calling for 
a formal compensation plan instead. Several community members argue that even 
if funds are recovered, most of the damage has already been done &#8212; especially 
to holders of the CETUS token, which plummeted in value following the 
incident.
Meanwhile, Sui validators are also under fire for their role in freezing the 
funds. The move is aimed at aiding recovery, yet critics say it exposes 
centralization risks in the network.
_CETUS immediately dropped around 35% following the hack. Source:__CoinGecko_
## Sui&#8217;s Cetus devs have a phantom exchange on Solana
A similar negotiation strategy used by the Cetus team on Sui was successfully 
employed years ago to recover funds for Crema. The Solana project hasn&#8217;t 
posted on its X account since March 2023, and its trading platform now sees 
negligible volume, but it still didn&#8217;t end well for the hacker.
Crema suffered an approximately $9-million hack in 2022. Much like the Cetus 
case, the Crema hacker was offered a deal to return the funds while keeping 
$1.6 million in exchange for not reporting the attack to law enforcement.
_Cetus offers a $6-million reward and exemption from further legal action from 
the project if the remaining funds are returned. Source:__SuiVision_
The hacker is believed to have been caught and sent to prison. In April 2024, 
the US Attorney&#8217;s Office for the Southern District of New York sentenced 
Shakeeb Ahmed to three years in prison for hacking two separate cryptocurrency 
exchanges. One was identified as Nirvana Finance, while the other was not 
named.
_**Related:**__**Which senators invest in crypto? 11 lawmakers have 
blockchain-related investments**_
The details of the unnamed exchange&#8217;s case match Crema&#8217;s hack, including the 
exact date of the exploit and the terms of the agreement.
Norbert Bodziony, founder of Nightly App, claims the Cetus team was behind 
Crema Finance.
_Crema Finance suffered a hack in July 2022. Source:__Norbert Bodziony_
Bodziony declined to disclose how he learned of the relationship to 
Cointelegraph but added that the connection is &#8220;commonly known&#8221; in Sui&#8217;s 
developer circles.
Cointelegraph reached out to Cetus to confirm the connection between the two 
projects, but the team had not responded by publication.
Cointelegraph has separately learned that both projects are founded by Henry 
Du.
## Save Cetus; centralize Sui
Sui&#8217;s validators have collectively blocked transactions from the hacker&#8217;s 
addresses, effectively freezing $162 million of the stolen funds on Sui. 
Around $63 million had already been bridged to Ethereum before these controls 
were implemented.
Although the coordinated effort has been effective in preventing the funds 
from being laundered, the cryptocurrency community has criticized Sui for 
being too centralized.
&#8220;SUI&#8217;s validators are colluding to CENSOR the hacker&#8217;s TXs right now! Does 
that make SUI centralized? The short answer is YES; what matters more is why? 
The &#8216;founders&#8217; own the majority of supply &amp; there are only 114 validators!&#8221; 
Justin Bons, founder of Cyber Capital, wrote on X.
_Some users challenge Bons &#8216; claim, arguing that decentralization doesn&#8217;t mean 
a free-for-all. Source: __Squatch/Justin Bons_ 
As Bons pointed out, Sui has just 114 validators &#8212; far fewer than its more 
established smart contract peers. Ethereum has over 1 million validators, 
while Solana has 1,157.
Meanwhile, members of the Sui community defended the move, arguing that this 
is how real-world decentralized chains should function.
&#8220;Decentralization isn&#8217;t about standing by while people get hurt, it&#8217;s about 
the power to act together, without needing permission,&#8221; said one member of the 
Sui community.
_**Related:**__**WLFI &#8216;s DeFi credentials under fire after Sui partnership**_
Following the hack, Sui developers committed code for a proposed function that 
would have allowed specific transactions to bypass all signing and safety 
checks by adding them to a whitelist.
While the function could have been used to help recover stolen funds, it also 
raised concerns about centralized control and the erosion of decentralization. 
The code was ultimately not merged and is not live on the network.
_SUI &#8216;s price has also been damaged by the Cetus exploit. Source: __CoinGecko_
## Sui and Cetus backlash contrasts recent hacks
The Cetus exploit has spotlighted the persistent security challenges in DeFi 
while raising deeper questions around who holds the reins in supposedly 
decentralized networks like Sui.
The team&#8217;s $6-million offer to the hacker mirrors the playbook it used with 
Crema &#8212; but this time, the crypto community isn&#8217;t as forgiving. With CETUS 
tanking, trust fractured and validators freezing funds, critics are asking 
whether Sui&#8217;s decentralization is more appearance than reality.
The debate over decentralization isn&#8217;t unique to Sui. When Bybit lost $1.4 
billion in a February hack linked to North Korean state actors, security 
experts and users urged platforms like THORChain and eXch to block the funds.
In that case, THORChain received some backlash for not stepping in, which is 
the exact opposite of what Sui is being criticized for now.
As of now, the hacker hasn&#8217;t accepted Cetus&#8217; offer. Two Ethereum wallets tied 
to the exploiter still hold over $60 million in ETH, with no movement at the 
time of writing. The Sui addresses remain paralyzed.
_**Magazine:**__**TradFi is building Ethereum L2s to tokenize trillions in 
RWAs: Inside story**_

Twice lucky? Cetus’ recovery plan on Sui mirrors a Solana blueprint

Hyperliquid’s HYPE token jumped to a record high of $37 on Friday, May 23, 
continuing a trend that started on April 4 when it bottomed at $9. Hyperliquid 
(HYPE) was trading at $35.50 at press time, up by 285% from…

HYPE price eyes $47 as rare pattern forms, Hyperliquid volume surges

PRESS RELEASE. The cryptocurrency space is shifting fast, and the landscape is 
never short of groundbreaking developments. While Solana ( SOL) has enjoyed 
explosive growth in the past, the cracks are starting to show. Solana’s lack 
of utility beyond meme coins is raising concerns among seasoned investors, and 
its trajectory seems increasingly uncertain. Meanwhile, an […]

Solana Faces Stiff Challenges While Lightchain AI Charts an Exciting New Path

MOONPIG, a new Solana memecoin backed by the $1.1B Hyperliquid perps whale, 
has surpassed $120 million market cap and just landed its first listing on a 
centralized exchange. Moonpig (MOONPIG) is a memecoin is centered around a 
cute pig character…

$1.1B Hyperliquid perps whale’s memecoin bet MOONPIG lands Poloniex listing

Bybit will enable its users to buy popular stocks, indices and commodities 
with USDT.