Sui DEX Cetus suffers suspected $200m hack

Experts warn $212 million moved off Cetus in minutes, raising doubts over the team’s claim of a simple bug.

Cetus, a Sui-based DEX, faces a suspected hack with over $200 million potentially lost amid rapid asset transfers to Ethereum.

A major security incident has struck Cetus, a decentralised exchange (DEX) on the Sui blockchain, with suspected losses exceeding $200 million. Onchain data revealed rapid asset drainage, prompting experts to label the event as a possible hack rather than a mere bug, as claimed by the Cetus team.

Reports indicate that at least $63 million has already been transferred to Ethereum, including a large single transaction of 20,000 ETH moved to a new wallet.

Transaction volumes on Cetus surged to $2.9 billion on 22 May, compared to $320 million the previous day, suggesting funds were rapidly siphoned from the platform.

Several tokens lost over 75% of their value, causing wider disruption; for instance, the Sui-based money market Scallop halted all borrowing activities as a precaution.

Concerns over transparency have grown as $212 million in assets were reportedly bridged to Ethereum at a rate of $1 million per minute. Analysts argue the scale and speed of transfers hint at something more serious than a simple software glitch.

Cetus paused the affected smart contract and announced an ongoing investigation, but has yet to provide a detailed response.

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