What is Cetus Protocol (CETUS)?

Deep Dive

1. Core Technology & Value Proposition

Cetus employs Concentrated Liquidity Market Makers (CLMM), inspired by Uniswap V3 but optimized for Sui and Aptos. This model lets liquidity providers (LPs) allocate funds within specific price ranges, improving capital efficiency and reducing slippage. Unlike traditional AMMs, CLMM allows LPs to mimic centralized exchange strategies, earning fees from targeted volatility.

The protocol is permissionless, enabling anyone to create pools or incentivize liquidity. Its programmability supports complex strategies like range orders and dynamic fee tiers, while composability lets developers integrate Cetus’s liquidity into apps like vaults or derivatives via its SDK.

2. Ecosystem & Key Features

Cetus serves as Sui’s primary DeFi infrastructure, handling over $1B weekly volume pre-hack. Post-relaunch, it introduced:
- Cetus Pro: Analytics dashboard for tracking trends and liquidity.
- Modular Terminal: Customizable swap interfaces for dApps.
- Institutional Tools: RFQ-based pricing (Cetus Tide) and Binance Wallet integration.

Partnerships with LayerZero, Fewcha Wallet, and projects like Nemoprotocol highlight its role as a liquidity backbone.

3. Resilience & Governance

After a May 2025 exploit, Cetus recovered 72% of stolen funds via community governance and Sui validator support. Its double-token model (CETUS for governance, xCETUS for staking) aligns long-term incentives, with 15% of tokens allocated to hack compensation. The protocol’s shift to open-source code and DAO governance aims to rebuild trust through transparency.

Conclusion

Cetus Protocol combines advanced liquidity mechanisms with developer-friendly infrastructure, positioning itself as Sui’s DeFi cornerstone. Its recovery from a major exploit underscores community-driven resilience. How will its focus on composability shape multi-chain DeFi interoperability moving forward?