Sui DEX Cetus hit by suspected hack: Over $200M in potential losses

Cetus, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Sui blockchain, suffered a significant exploit, potentially draining over $200 million in digital assets. Web3 researcher COMDARE3 first reported user concerns on X, highlighting substantial asset value drops on DEX Screener. Extractor, an on-chain monitoring tool from Hacken, confirmed at least $63 million had been bridged to Ethereum, including a single $20 million ETH transfer. Hacken’s researcher, Yehor Rudytsia, verified these findings.

Cetus’s transaction volume spiked to $2.9 billion on May 22nd, a dramatic increase from the previous day’s $320 million, suggesting a possible siphoning of funds. The DEX’s official X account acknowledged an incident and paused the smart contract for safety while launching an investigation.

Several tokens listed on Cetus, such as Lombard Staked BTC (LBTC) and AXOLcoin (AXOL), experienced drastic value losses, with the top 15 losers falling over 75%. The Sui-based money market, Scallop, halted borrowing as a precautionary measure, assuring users that funds remain safe. While LBTC saw a slight price increase elsewhere, AXOL experienced a near-99.5% drop.

The alleged exploiter’s address holds substantial amounts of Sui (SUI), Haedal Staked SUI (HASUI), Toilet (TOILET), wrapped USDT (USDT), and other assets, totaling nearly $52 million in SUI alone. Concerns about Cetus’s transparency have been raised by blockchain analysts and compliance firms. AMLBot noted the rapid transfer of $212 million to Ethereum at a rate of $1 million per minute, suggesting a deliberate and potentially coordinated action. AMLBot also questioned the Cetus team’s characterization of the incident as a “simple bug,” given the suspicious timing. Onchain Lens independently reported the attacker’s control over all SUI-denominated pools and the movement of USDC. The situation underscores vulnerabilities in DeFi and the challenges in maintaining transparency and accountability within decentralized systems.