Cetus Protocol, SUI network’s largest decentralized exchange (DEX) and liquidity provider, has suffered a massive $260 million hack.
Driven by the crypto hack, the SUI price is down nearly 15% and is currently trading at $3.90. Leading figures like Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) have promised their support for the blockchain network amidst this chaos.
SUI’s Cetus Hit by $260M Hack: Details
As revealed by Lookonchain, Sui’s Cetus DEX has been exploited by a hacker, whose wallet address is identified as “0xe28b50.” Reportedly, the attacker holds over 12.9 million SUI, valued at about $54 million.
Lookonchain further uncovered that the attacker is laundering the stolen funds by converting them to USDC. Later, they transferred approximately $60 million worth of USDC to the Ethereum blockchain, where they’re being exchanged for ETH. Analyst Ted also confirmed that the hacker has already bought $60 million worth of ETH tokens.
Following the incident, the Cetus team has paused its smart contracts and is actively investigating the exploit.
Preliminary findings suggest the attacker used fake tokens, such as BULLA, to manipulate price curves and reserve calculations, adding minimal liquidity to distort internal LP states and drain real assets like SUI and USDC. The team confirmed that the contract has been paused “for safety.”
The development team sprang into action after learning of the Cetus incident. They promised to investigate and take necessary action. The team wrote,
At 3:52 AM PT, we became aware of an incident concerning Cetus. The Cetus team has our active support in this ongoing investigation and will provide further updates as soon as they become available.
In response to the crypto hack, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao shared an X post, offering full support to the platform. He wrote on X, “We are doing what we can to help SUI. Not a pleasant situation. Hope everyone stay SAFU!”
SUI Price Plummets, But Maintains Momentum
Following the crypto hack, the SUI token plummeted, but is still trading in the green zone. Earlier today, the token hit a weekly high following OKX’s launch of xBTC, a 1:1 wrapped Bitcoin token, on the platform.
However, the bullish trend was momentary as the token dipped and is now trading at $3.65. While the SUI price dipped by a marginal 0.39% over the past 24 hours, it has seen a notable plummet of nearly 15% over the past four hours. Initial reports suggested a massive outflow of $200 million in funds, triggering panic across the community.
In addition to SUI’s plummet, other Sui-based tokens on Cetus, like LBTC and AXOL, experienced severe downturns, losing nearly their whole value. Other assets like LOFI, HIPPO, and SQUIRT dropped by about 80% over the past six hours, driven by the crypto hack.