The Cetus Hack: $223M Gone. $6M Bounty Posted. Sui Proves Its Resilience.

In one of the most momentous events of 2025, the decentralized exchange Cetus suffered a sophisticated attack that brought about the loss of $223 million in crypto assets.

In a stunning event that unfolded on Monday, the decentralized exchange Cetus on the Sui blockchain was the target of a sophisticated exploit, leading to the theft of an estimated $223 million in crypto assets.

The incident, now generally called ‘The Cetus Hack,’ was not a simple exploitation of a vulnerability but rather an orchestrated digital heist that used token spoofing, smart contract manipulation, and a neat escape route which ended with tens of thousands of Ether being funnelled away from the protocol.

Despite the serious incident, the Sui blockchain was still running smoothly and efficiently. While parts of the DeFi ecosystem panicked, the Sui infrastructure stood tall, coordinating in real-time and maintaining zero downtime.

Inside The Exploit: Token Spoofing, Overflow Glitch

According to several security analysts and on-chain forensics, the attacker began the exploit by creating a fake token and used it to add a nearly insignificant amount of liquidity to one of Cetus’s pools.

This action, seemingly trivial, caused an overflow in the automated market maker’s math logic, breaking its balance calculations and allowing the siphoner to withdraw large sums of legitimate tokens—$SUI and $USDC—without having to provide any corresponding value.

In a matter of minutes, the assailant siphoned off an estimated $223 million worth of tokens. Of that, about $60 million got out of the protocol before countermeasures were enacted. The money was swiftly bridged to Ethereum, where it was used to purchase around 22,000 ETH.

THE CETUS HACK: $223M GONE. $6M ON THE TABLE.This wasn’t a glitch.It was a heist.

Fake tokens. Overflow exploit. 22K ETH exit.Now a $6M bounty is being offered to get the money back.

But the real story?Sui just proved it’s built for chaos. 🧵 pic.भगवद्‌ന്റെ פני אמת בני ניסוי.legate. A new whitelist function has been deployed to allow certain transactions to bypass standard security protocols. A restore module, accessible only to a few, could be used to either return the stolen assets or credit the liquidity providers who lost their funds.

These measures highlight a swift and bold response to a pressing DeFi incident. While some may question the scope of the breach or the implication of bypassing standard security protocols in such a broad manner, the transparency of Sui's actions and the speed with which they have been deployed suggest a highly coordinated recovery plan is underway.

Cetus, the decentralized exchange on the Sui chain that was recently the subject of a large-scale exploit, has announced a $6 million bounty in a desperate bid to recover the stolen funds.

The incident, which took place on Monday, saw a hacker siphon off an estimated $223 million in tokens from Cetus’s liquidity pool. The funds were later used to purchase approximately 22,000 ETH, which is now being held in a known wallet.

In response to the exploit, Sui has announced a new whitelist function that will allow certain transactions to bypass standard security protocols. This is a significant measure, given the importance of maintaining blockchain security.

Additionally, Sui is making a restore module available to a select few, who will have the ability to either pull back the stolen assets or credit the many liquidity providers whose funds were misappropriated. This will be a crucial stage in the broader recovery effort.

These new devices are part of a broader strategy to respond to DeFi incidents in a more rapid and effective manner. While some critics may question the wisdom of bypassing security protocols in such a broad manner, the speed and efficiency with which Sui has acted suggest that a very well-coordinated recovery plan is already in progress.

As the recovery effort continues, all eyes will be on the attacker to make the next move. But with a bounty of $6 million on his head, and the full force of the crypto community mobilised in pursuit, the hunter may yet become the hunted.

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