Sui Blockchain’s Largest DEX Cetus Protocol Suffers Over $220 Million Loss in Hacker Attack, $6 Million Bounty Offered for Hacker Negotiation
On the evening of October 22, the largest decentralized exchange on the Sui blockchain, Cetus, was attacked by hackers, resulting in a massive outflow of funds from its liquidity pools, with official estimates of losses exceeding $220 million. It is understood that the attackers exploited vulnerabilities in the price curve and reserve calculation of the Cetus protocol, manipulating the system using counterfeit tokens such as BULLA and MOJO.
Currently, the Cetus team has engaged in negotiations with the attacker, publicly offering a “white hat settlement plan” that promises a reward of 2,324 ETH (approximately $6 million) if the attacker returns all stolen funds in full within a specified timeframe, and Cetus will not pursue legal liability.
Cetus Announces Suspension of $160 Million in Funds
Late last night, Cetus also announced on X that $160 million of the stolen funds has been frozen, with the goal of recovering the misappropriated assets.
As of earlier today, we have confirmed that the attacker stole approximately $223 million from the Cetus Protocol. We have immediately taken action to lock our contracts to prevent further theft of funds. The damaged funds amounting to $162 million have been successfully suspended. We are currently collaborating with the Sui Foundation and other ecosystem members to formulate the next steps to recover the remaining stolen assets. Most of the affected funds have been paused, and we are actively seeking ways to restore the remaining funds. We have no higher priority than this and will provide further updates through this channel. A complete incident report will be disclosed later. We sincerely appreciate your patience.
However, the news has sparked community discussions questioning “when did blockchain become a centralized database?” and raising concerns about “resistance to censorship.” Meanwhile, the attacker has continued to transfer stolen funds across chains to Ethereum, with at least $60 million in USDC already transferred.
As of now, the officials have not provided detailed explanations on how the suspended funds will be recovered. However, analyses suggest that the Sui Foundation holds at least one-third of the entire network’s staked voting power. While collaborating with the community for retroactive or soft forks may offer opportunities to compensate for losses, it could also undermine user confidence in the protocol, which remains to be observed.
Impact on Sui Ecosystem Tokens
The Cetus hack incident has also impacted all tokens within the Sui ecosystem. SUI saw a sharp decline of 10% last night, dipping to $3.70, and has reported $3.87 before the press time. The native token of the Cetus protocol, CETUS, also plummeted by 40%, currently reporting at $0.169.
The meme coins with the highest trading volumes on the Cetus exchange were hit hardest, with some tokens experiencing declines of over 90%.
