Cetus Hack Drains $223M from Sui Network, Binance Steps In to Help

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When $223 Million Vanishes: A Crypto Comedy of Errors! 😂💸

Ah, the Sui ecosystem, a veritable garden of delights, found itself in a most unfortunate predicament yesterday, as the nefarious forces of exploitation descended upon its illustrious liquidity provider, Cetus. In a most theatrical fashion, over $200 million was spirited away, leaving a trail of panic that would make even the most stoic of investors clutch their pearls. The once-beloved Sui memecoins—Lofi, Sudeng, and Squirtle—plummeted in value like a lead balloon, suffering catastrophic declines of 76%, 80%, and a staggering 97% in the blink of an eye. The Cetus token, too, joined the tragic parade, nosediving by 53% post-incident. Truly, a spectacle worthy of the grandest stage! 🎭

According to the esteemed DEX Screener, a staggering 46 tokens on the Sui network found themselves in the unfortunate embrace of double-digit losses within a mere 24 hours. One can only imagine the collective gasp of disbelief! 😱

Alert Announcement

There was an incident detected on our protocol and our smart contract has been paused temporarily for safety. The team is investigating the incident at the moment. A further investigation statement will be made soon. We are grateful for your patience.

— Cetus (@CetusProtocol) May 22, 2025

In a twist befitting a Shakespearean tragedy, Cetus has confirmed that the villainous attacker made off with a staggering $223 million, though the valiant team managed to freeze $162 million of the ill-gotten gains. With the swiftness of a knight in shining armor, they locked the smart contract and are now collaborating with the Sui Foundation and other noble partners to reclaim the remaining treasure. A full incident report is, of course, forthcoming—because what’s a crisis without a bit of paperwork? 📜

Binance To Help SUI

In a display of camaraderie that would warm the cockles of any heart, Binance’s co-founder took to the digital ether, proclaiming their unwavering support for SUI in this most unpleasant of situations. “We are doing everything we can to help SUI,” he declared, as if he were a modern-day Robin Hood. 🦸‍♂️

We are doing what we can to help SUI. Not a pleasant situation. Hope everyone stay SAFU!

— CZ BNB (@cz_binance) May 22, 2025

CZ, ever the gallant hero, reached out to the Sui team, who responded with commendable alacrity. He mentioned that a veritable army of security teams is on the case, seeking to unravel the mystery of this dastardly deed. Binance may very well swoop in to offer support, whether through rescue measures, technical wizardry, or even financial aid from their SAFU fund. One can only hope they don’t arrive too late to the party! 🎉

Attacker Uses Fake Tokens to Manipulate Cetus Protocol

In a plot twist that would make even the most seasoned of detectives raise an eyebrow, the attacker exploited a flaw in the Cetus Protocol’s smart contracts, employing fake tokens to manipulate price data and reserve balances. This cunning ruse allowed them to extract real assets from multiple liquidity pools, including the illustrious SUI/USDC pool. Initially dismissed as a mere bug, the team later conceded that it was, in fact, a hack—an unfortunate revelation that prompted them to urge users to remain calm as they embarked on their investigation. The smart contract has been paused, of course, because what’s a good crisis without a bit of precaution? 🔒

How Circle sleeps knowing there’s another 9fig hack going on and the hacker is bridging out all the $USDC

— Wazz (@WazzCrypto) May 22, 2025

Circle Faces Criticism for Slow Action

As the dust settles, industry experts have taken to the digital stage to chastise Circle for its sluggish response to the calamity, likening their delays in freezing stolen funds to a tortoise in a race against a hare. It took over five hours during the Bybit hack, a delay that has left many shaking their heads in disbelief. Cyvers CEO Deddy Lavid has warned that waiting for post-mortems instead of acting on real-time alerts is as perilous as doing nothing at all. 🐢

This hack, dear reader, is but one of the major crypto thefts to grace our headlines in recent months, joining the ranks of ByBit’s $1.5 billion breach in February and Coinbase’s insider attack, which cost up to $400 million. Truly, the world of cryptocurrency is a stage, and we are but players, each with our own tragic tale to tell! 🎭

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2025-05-23 10:36