Catenaa, Sunday, June 01, 2025-Sui-based tokens nosedived late last week (22) after a major exploit drained $223 million from decentralized exchange Cetus Protocol, prompting a halt in smart contract activity and rattling investor confidence across the ecosystem.
Tokens including LOFI, HIPPO and CETUS plummeted over 50% within an hour on decentralized exchanges, with some losing more than 90% of their value, according to DEX Screener.
Prices on centralized platforms initially held firmer, but the overall market for Sui-related assets began to falter following the breach, CoinGecko data showed.
Cetus, which bills itself as the primary decentralized exchange and liquidity provider on the Sui blockchain, confirmed on X that its smart contracts were paused for safety and investigations were underway.
The team later disclosed that approximately $223 million had been stolen and that about $162 million had been frozen following swift action to lock remaining funds.
Blockchain intelligence firm Lookonchain estimated that $260 million was siphoned off, with roughly $60 million worth of USDC already bridged to Ethereum and swapped into ETH.
Security firm PeckShield echoed the estimate, characterizing the attack as an oracle exploit that allowed the attacker to manipulate price feeds and extract funds before bridging them off Sui.
The Sui Foundation and validators coordinated with Cetus to freeze wallet activity linked to the stolen assets. The foundation said network participants were ignoring malicious transactions pending further notice.
Cetus pledged a full incident report and ongoing efforts to recover the remaining funds. The breach has raised fresh concerns over oracle vulnerabilities in DeFi protocols operating on emerging blockchains.
