Cetus, Sui's Biggest Liquidity Provider, Loses $223M in a Hack

TL;DR

• Cetus Protocol has been drained of $223 million worth of tokens in a hack.

• The CETUS token has lost 26% of its value in the last 24 hours, with other Sui-related tokens also recording losses.

CETUS Dips 26% as Cetus Protocol Loses $223M in a Hack

Cetus Protocol, the largest decentralized exchange (DEX) and liquidity provider on the Sui network, has lost $223 million in a hack. The team announced this latest development in an X post.

According to the protocol, $162 million of the stolen funds had been "paused." The team added that it is currently working with the Sui Foundation to recover the remainder of the funds.

🚨ANNOUNCEMENT

As of earlier today, we have confirmed that an attacker has stolen approximately $223M from Cetus Protocol. We have took immediate action to lock our contract preventing further theft of funds.

$162M of the compromised funds have been successfully paused. We are…

— Cetus🐳 (@CetusProtocol) May 22, 2025

Onchain data shows that the wallet tied to the Cetus Protocol hack currently holds over 12.9 million SUI, valued at approximately $54 million. The address’s net worth is above 32.9 million SUI (approximately $137 million), indicating that the hacker may have already bridged or swapped funds through multiple paths.

Early analysis reveals that the hacker used spoof tokens like BULLA to exploit broken price curves and reserve calculations. The attacker proceeded to add near-zero liquidity to manipulate internal LP state and repeatedly removed real assets like SUI and USDC without depositing anything meaningful.

Cetus added that the contract has been paused “for safety” and will publish a detailed statement soon.

CETUS has lost 26% of its value in the last 24 hours and now trades at $0.1720. SUI is also down 4% despite leading cryptocurrencies recording gains in the last 24 hours.