Sui DEX Cetus suspected of being hacked, over $260M drained from liquidity pools
Swapping functionalities on Cetus have reportedly ceased working, and liquidity for many token pairs has collapsed.
Key Takeaways
- Cetus Protocol on Sui blockchain was targeted by a cyberattack, draining multiple liquidity pools.
- Several liquidity pool tokens on Cetus plunged by up to 80% following the incident.
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Cetus Protocol, a key decentralized exchange and liquidity provider on the Sui network, suffered severe disruption in the early hours of Thursday after over $260 million was drained from its liquidity pools.
Initial reports from users and on-chain data indicate that approximately $11 million worth of SUI was withdrawn from the SUI/USDC liquidity pool on the Cetus Protocol.
Immediately after the incident surfaced, the price of SUI fell sharply by around 7%, dropping to $3.9, according to data from CoinGecko. As of press time, SUI was trading near $3.8.
Meanwhile, numerous liquidity pool tokens on Cetus experienced severe drawdowns, with some plunging by as much as 80% amid the widespread liquidity exodus.
Cetus Protocol’s CETUS token crashed around 33% after the exploit. At the time of writing, the crypto asset was changing hands at around $0.16.
According to Lookonchain, the hacker behind the exploit swapped stolen assets for USDC and bridged them to Ethereum. As of the latest update, the exploiter had spent around $58 million to acquire 21,938 ETH, averaging $2,658 per ETH.
Cetus(@CetusProtocol) on #SUI was hacked and lost more than $260M!
The hacker is converting the stolen funds into $USDC and cross-chaining to #Ethereum to exchange for $ETH, with ~60M $USDC already cross-chained.https://t.co/b0uGu8icXrhttps://t.co/0BpKSaygmr pic.twitter.com/txfxLoImOd
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) May 22, 2025
Under investigation
In a statement issued shortly after the incident surfaced, the Cetus team said it had paused its smart contract as a precautionary measure following the detection of an anomaly in the protocol.
According to the team, an investigation is underway, and more details will come as soon as they become available.
🚨Alert Announcement 🚨
There was an incident detected on our protocol and our smart contract has been paused temporarily for safety. The team is investigating the incident at the moment. A further investigation statement will be made soon. We are grateful for your patience.
— Cetus🐳 (@CetusProtocol) May 22, 2025
Sui confirmed that it is working closely with the Cetus team to assess the scope of the disruption and will provide updates as available.
At 3:52 AM PT, we became aware of an incident concerning Cetus. The Cetus team has our active support in this ongoing investigation and will provide further updates as soon as they become available. https://t.co/LZwGeaCXvH
— Sui (@SuiNetwork) May 22, 2025
Following the incident, Sui-based DEXs Bluefin and Momentum announced temporary suspensions of activities, stating they would resume once the ecosystem stabilizes.
To protect our users, we’ve temporarily paused actions on Bluefin Spot as a precautionary measure. We want to emphasize that Bluefin remains fully secure.
Our team is actively monitoring the situation. Thank you for your trust.
— Bluefin (@bluefinapp) May 22, 2025
Due to the ongoing exploit on Cetus, we temporarily paused all activities on Momentum as a precautionary measure. All funds are 100% SAFE. We are in communication with the Sui foundation regarding next steps.
— Momentum (@MMTFinance) May 22, 2025
This is a developing story. We’ll give an update as we learn more.
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