Cetus Protocol, the largest decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Sui blockchain, has secured a loan from the Sui Foundation to compensate users in full following a $223 million exploit last week.

These funds apply only to cover the bridged assets, and are separate from the frozen funds subject to an onchain community vote.

“Using our cash and token treasuries, we are now in a position to fully cover the stolen assets currently off-chain if the locked funds are recovered through the upcoming community vote,” Cetus said in an X post.

“This includes a critical loan from the Sui Foundation, making a 100% recovery for all affected users possible.”

The recovery plan hinges partly on the outcome of a pending on-chain governance proposal, which would authorize the use of frozen funds to complete user reimbursements.

“These are extraordinary measures taken to protect the Sui community,” the Sui Foundation said in a statement, adding that a “full recovery is possible” with the community’s support.

The exploit of Cetus last week involved an attacker manipulating spoof tokens, such as BULLA, to exploit flawed price curves and reserve logic, allowing them to drain SUI, USDC, and other real assets from liquidity pools without depositing equivalent value.

At the time, over $162 million in stolen tokens were frozen on-chain, while the remainder were bridged out through multiple paths. The attacker’s wallet (which is still active) was last seen holding over 12.9 million SUI, with additional assets likely swapped or obfuscated across networks.

In response, Cetus paused its smart contracts and initiated an investigation, while its governance token, CETUS, dropped nearly 40% at the time. Trading activity across Sui’s DeFi ecosystem slowed amid liquidity concerns and broader scrutiny of protocol safety.

Now, with the new secured loan from the Sui Foundation, Cetus says it is in a position to begin reimbursing users immediately.

Bitcoin BTC held steady near $109,000 early Wednesday as traders bet on fresh highs in the coming months, with ether ETH rising over 3% after renewed confidence in Ethereum’s long-term strategy and broader institutional activity.

U.S. equities surged following the Memorial Day weekend, led by a 2% gain in the Nasdaq, as investors shrugged off labor market concerns and drew optimism from softening trade tensions.

The rebound, aided by stabilizing Treasury yields and easing shipping disruptions between China and the U.S., has rekindled risk appetite across asset classes.

“Institutional investors are increasingly reallocating into crypto after volatility shook traditional safe havens,” said Kay Lu, CEO of HashKey Eco Labs. “Ethereum’s new treasury initiative—mirroring MicroStrategy’s BTC approach—shows that crypto is becoming a long-term reserve asset for the web3 ecosystem.”

Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin and development lab ConsenSys unveiled a $425 million ETH-based treasury reserve plan at publicly traded SharpLink, a move likened to Bitcoin-centric corporate strategies.

The company is raising roughly $425 million through a private investment in public equity (PIPE) offering. The proceeds will be used to buy ether, which will then serve as the primary treasury reserve asset.

The offering is expected to close on May 29th, according to the release. Lubin will become chairman of the board of directors upon the closing.

Meanwhile, bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw over $385 million in fresh inflows, signaling continued institutional demand.

Still, traders remain cautious ahead of the high-profile Bitcoin Conference, which kicks off in Las Vegas this week. Key speakers include JD Vance, Michael Saylor, and members of the Trump family, whose past appearances have stirred sharp market reactions.

“Front-end volatility remains elevated with BTC trading in a tight $107K to $110K range,” Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a market broadcast. “Last year’s Trump keynote in Nashville caused a spike in 1-day implied vol above 90, followed by a 30% BTC drop. That memory is still informing positioning.”

QCP added that perpetual futures open interest has eased, funding rates have normalized, and some prominent retail traders, including James Wynn, appear to be reducing exposure.

The defensive posturing suggests that, while new highs are expected this summer, traders are bracing for short-term volatility around political and macro headlines. Still, analysts remain broadly bullish.

“The structure underneath remains strong,” said Augustine Fan, head of insights at SignalPlus told CoinDesk in a Telegram message.

“Positive macro headwinds and better underlying structure paint an optimistic outlook with traders expecting prices to grind towards new highs by the summer,” Fan ended.

Bitcoin’s BTC upward trend continued to show signs of weakness early Wednesday, even as Wall Street tech stocks surged overnight in anticipation of upbeat earnings from AI giant Nvidia (NVDA).

The leading cryptocurrency by market value traded near $108,900 at press time, teasing a downside break of a trendline characterizing the uptrend from early April lows, according to data source Coingecko.

Bullish trendlines indicate areas of strong demand, thus a move below one is generally seen as a sign of a potential reversal and a possible start of a downward move.

Prices have not been able to make significant gains this week despite a flurry of positive news, including stablecoin issuer Circle’s plans to file for an IPO and Trump Media’s plans to raise $2.5 billion to purchase bitcoin.

On-chain activity suggests that large investors have recently begun distributing coins, contributing to the market’s selling pressure. «As of May 26, the >10K BTC cohort has pivoted to net distribution (~0.3), signaling a notable shift in positioning among the largest holders,» Glassnode said on X. The firm, however, added that overall, the market remains in an accumulation mode.

Focus on Fed minutes and NVDA earnings

Later Wednesday, the spotlight will be on minutes of the Federal Reserve’s May meeting, which will offer detailed insights into the committee’s stance on monetary policy and potential clues about future interest rate decisions.

The central bank left the benchmark interest rate unchanged early this month, with Chairman Jerome Powell pointing squarely to President Donald Trump’s tariff war as a source of inflation and uncertainty. Powell also “stagflation” aloud.

The minutes are likely to reiterate the same, although the recent tariff delay by Trump means the market may not pay much attention to hawkish messaging.

Meanwhile, AI major Nvidia’s earnings announcement could move markets, particularly digital assets, given the historical positive correlation between BTC and NVDA.

The firm is expected to report strong earnings and revenue growth, driving benefits from investments in AI infrastructure. The focus will be on the company’s outlook on AI demand and China amid restrictions on Chip exports to China.

XRP holds key support

Payments-focused XRP held the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) during overnight trading amid growing social media chatter about XRPFi, or decentralized finance on the XRP Ledger.

Strobe Finance, which leverages the smart contract capabilities of Ripple’s EVM sidechain to create a DeFi platform on the XRP Ledger, stated that large amounts of XRO are currently idle and can be deployed in DeFi for additional yield.

«Ripple’s community research reveals a significant dormant user base: over 4 million inactive XRPL wallets hold an estimated US$2.15 billion in XRP, compared to 1.7 million active wallets. This dormant capital represents a large, addressable market waiting to be unlocked through compelling DeFi opportunities,» Strobe said in a blog post.

The chart shows XRP trading in bullish territory, above the Ichimoku cloud and the 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA). The average has acted as strong support or area of interest for buyers since early April.