- Sui-based decentralized exchange Cetus has suffered a significant exploit, resulting in over $200 million in losses
- The attack has caused a sharp decline in SUI ecosystem tokens, with some meme coins dropping up to 97%
- Efforts are underway to freeze and recover the stolen funds, with approximately $162 million already secured
A major security breach on the Sui blockchain’s Cetus Protocol has led to substantial financial losses among coins in the Sui ecosystem. The exploit, involving sophisticated manipulation of the platform’s pricing mechanisms, saw the exploiters make off with over $200 million in assets. The impacted entities have engaged in coordinated actions in order to mitigate the damage and recover the stolen assets.
Attackers Used Spoof Tokens to Manipulate Price Curves
On May 22, 2025, Cetus Protocol, the largest decentralized exchange on the Sui Network, experienced a significant security breach. Attackers exploited vulnerabilities in the platform’s smart contracts by introducing spoof tokens—low-value or fake assets with manipulated metadata. These tokens were used to manipulate price curves and reserve calculations within the exchange’s liquidity pools. By injecting minimal liquidity and distorting internal accounting, the attackers were able to extract substantial amounts of valuable tokens, including SUI and USD Coin (USDC), without providing equivalent value.
The exploit had immediate and severe repercussions on the SUI ecosystem. Tokens associated with Cetus Protocol and other assets within the network experienced significant declines in value. Notably, meme coins such as Lofi (LOFI), Sudeng (HIPPO), and Squirtle (SQUIRT) plummeted by 76%, 80%, and 97%, respectively, within an hour. The native CETUS token dropped by 53% in the same timeframe. Overall, 46 Sui-based tokens recorded double-digit losses over a 24-hour period. However, the native SUI token rose 2% in the same timeframe.
Coordinated Response and Recovery Effort Gets Underway
In the wake of the exploit, Cetus Protocol promptly paused its smart contracts to prevent further losses and initiated an investigation into the incident:
📜 Dear Sui community, thank you for your patience while our team works on the incident investigation and resolution.
Since taking the actions indicated in our previous announcement, we have also done the following:
1. We engaged the broader ecosystem, Sui team, and related… https://t.co/Gs1EWXZ6AD
— Cetus🐳 (@CetusProtocol) May 22, 2025
The Sui Foundation and other ecosystem participants collaborated to freeze and recover the stolen funds. As of the latest reports, approximately $162 million of the compromised assets have been successfully secured, with the attacker managing to bridge around $60 million in USDC to the Ethereum network, where the funds were being converted to Ether.
Cetus Protocol has extended a $6 million bounty offer to the attacker, proposing a “whitehat settlement” in exchange for the return of the remaining stolen funds and immunity from legal action. The team is also working closely with cybersecurity firms, law enforcement agencies, and regulatory bodies to address the breach and enhance the platform’s security measures.
