Cetus Protocol, Sui’s Top DEX, Loses $223 Million in Hack, Sending Sui Tokens Tumbling

Cetus Protocol, the largest decentralized exchange and liquidity provider on the Sui blockchain, fell victim to a major hack that drained $223 million in tokens, the team revealed on social media platform X.

Out of the total stolen amount, about $162 million has been frozen as part of ongoing recovery efforts in cooperation with the Sui Foundation.

The hacker’s wallet, identified as 0xe28b50, still holds roughly 12.9 million SUI—worth approximately $54 million at current rates. Blockchain data shows this wallet’s total holdings exceed 32.9 million SUI tokens (~$137 million), indicating some funds have likely been moved through multiple swaps or cross-chain bridges.

The wallet remains active, suggesting the attacker is still attempting to hide or liquidate the stolen tokens. This incident has placed heavy strain on Sui’s decentralized finance ecosystem, draining liquidity from key pools and trading pairs.

Cetus responded quickly by pausing its smart contracts and launching an investigation. Initial findings suggest the hacker exploited flaws in price curves and reserve calculations by using spoof tokens such as BULLA. By injecting minimal liquidity, the attacker manipulated the internal state of liquidity pools to repeatedly withdraw genuine assets like SUI and USDC without putting in real collateral.

Cetus confirmed the contracts are paused “for safety” and promised a comprehensive statement soon.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) tweeted that Binance has reached out to support Sui amid the crisis.

Following the hack, the CETUS token lost 40% of its value, while Sui-related meme tokens BULLA and MOJO suffered devastating losses exceeding 90%.