Announced on May 23, the offer is coordinated with cybersecurity firm Inca Digital and will be funded by the Sui Foundation if the tip proves decisive.
Informants must email the perpetrator’s name, location, and supporting proof with the subject “Cetus lead.” The DEX added that it would withdraw any civil action and cancel the bounty should the exploiter return the assets and accept the earlier settlement proposal.
Notably, the offer comes amid centralization concerns regarding Sui following the freezing of $162 million by many of its 114 validators.
That note offered a $6 million retention fee, equivalent to 2,324 ETH, in exchange for the return of 20,920 ETH and all frozen amounts on Sui.
The team said it had mapped the exploiter’s Ethereum wallets and was coordinating with US federal authorities, FinCEN, the Seychelles Police Force, selected defense-sector partners, major exchanges, and bridge operators.
The ultimatum warned that any attempt to launder funds would trigger a global law-enforcement escalation.
Of that sum, $61 million was moved to Ethereum via bridges, while the remaining $162 million was frozen by Sui network validators.
Cetus has not revealed when normal trading will resume or whether the team will implement code changes before reactivating the contracts.
The collective freeze prevented the remaining $162 million transfer and locked the tokens on-chain.
Although he highlighted that the process demanded consensus and was not arbitrary, the episode has changed the security assumptions regarding layer-1 blockchains.
