The Great Cetus Hack of 2025: $200 Million Vanishes Into the Abyss!

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In an utterly dramatic turn of events that could make a sci-fi novel blush, Cetus—a decentralized exchange (DEX) on the ever-daring Sui blockchain—has allegedly experienced a breach of such monumental proportions that it’s estimated over $200 million in digital assets have evaporated faster than a virtual reality dinner on a Friday night.

According to the ever-reliable (and pseudonymous) Web3 researcher COMDARE3, the situation is serious, as “users report” that the Sui-based DEX Cetus is undergoing an “exploit.” Well, of course, users report it! Who else would? The “exploit” is quite something, with a screenshot of the market data showing that various assets have lost more value than a vintage record in a rainstorm.

To name a few casualties, tokens like Lombard Staked BTC (LBTC) and AXOLcoin (AXOL) have lost so much value on Cetus, it’s almost as if they were politely escorted to the “dearly departed” list. Oh, and for those keeping score, the top 15 losers saw their prices fall by more than 75%. How does that feel? 👀

Meanwhile, in the great unknown outside the Cetus ecosystem, LBTC seems to have gained a modest 4% in value in the last 24 hours, but AXOLcoin is still in the process of holding a memorial service for its nearly 99.5% drop. Talk about rough times. 💀

But wait, it gets juicier! The alleged hacker’s wallet is currently hosting nearly $52 million worth of Sui (SUI) tokens, $4.9 million in Haedal Staked SUI (HASUI), and a generous sprinkle of Toilet (TOILET) tokens (because who doesn’t love a good toilet joke?). Throw in some wrapped USDt (USDT), and we’ve got ourselves a heist. 💰

The Cetus X profile, clearly not wanting to appear uninformed, confirmed the “incident” (yes, that’s what they’re calling it) and that the smart contract was paused for safety. Apparently, the team is “investigating.” In other words, they’re probably doing a lot of frantic Googling.

Suspicious fund transfers stir the pot

Meanwhile, blockchain analysts and compliance firms have started to wonder whether this was really just a bug or whether the DEX’s transparency has been, well, not quite as “transparent” as their marketing team would like you to believe. A representative from AMLBot didn’t mince words when talking to CryptoMoon:

“Don’t be fooled by the @CetusProtocol team claiming it’s just a bug, not a hack. Just a bug?”

Oh yes, because a $200 million bug sounds completely plausible. The AMLBot rep, who clearly had a strong cup of coffee that morning, continued to elaborate: “We’re seeing $212 million being bridged to Ethereum at a rate of $1 million per minute. … While we were talking, [they] drained another $3 million.” Yeah, that’s not suspicious at all. 🕵️‍♂️

Onchain data service Onchain Lens, never one to miss out on drama, pointed out that “the attacker gained control of all SUI-denominated pools, exploiting over $200M, and has also started moving $USDC.” Meanwhile, the world keeps spinning, and this developing story is still evolving faster than your last Wi-Fi connection. Stay tuned for more as this thriller unfolds.

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2025-05-22 15:30