Sui validators and stakers are holding a seven-day onchain vote on forcibly retrieving stolen Cetus tokens from frozen hacker addresses.

Sui's (SUI) largest DEX Cetus (CETUS) got hacked, and some assets ended up stuck in hacker addresses that are currently frozen. Now, the Sui Foundation is hosting a community-led onchain vote to see if Sui should forcibly reclaim these stolen tokens.

The vote started a couple days ago on May 27th and lasts for roughly five more days. Sui’s governance model is delegated proof of stake, so validators speak for their delegators. If you hold Sui, you can align with a validator that matches your stance. 

“Yes” means new chain code to let a special address pretend to be the hacker addresses for a single transaction each, then move the tokens to a secure wallet. “No” means no code change, leaving tokens stuck.

It’s a real test of how Sui handles serious hacks. The Sui Foundation is neutral, removing its own stake from the process to let the public truly decide. If the majority backs “yes,” the forced move occurs. If not, or if the vote remains inconclusive, no rescue code is introduced.

For stakers, you can quickly move your stake to validators that vow to vote “yes” or “no.” Explorers like Suiscan or SuiVision track how each validator leans. The threshold is over half of total staked weight, ignoring abstentions, with “yes” > “no.” That’s the plan.

If “yes” wins, tokens go to a multi-sig: 2 keys from Cetus, 2 from Sui Foundation, 2 from OtterSec. The multi-sig will coordinate returning funds to original accounts.

This is a delicate balance: censorship or rescue? Many blockchains shy from rewriting chain history, but Sui is letting the community weigh in. The entire process is an exercise in decentralized governance, setting a precedent for how far the chain might go to fix hacks.

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