Over $200M in potential losses

Cetus, a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on the Sui blockchain, is suspected to be undergoing a massive exploit that may have drained more than $200 million worth of digital assets.

Pseudonymous Web3 researcher COMDARE3 posted on X that “users report” that Sui-based DEX Cetus is being exploited.” He also shared a screenshot of Cetus market data on DEX Screener, showing many assets losing well over half of their value over the last 24 hours.

Cetus did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comments about the suspected exploit.

Cetus pool data shows that as of the time of writing, the DEX processed $2.9 billion worth of transactions on May 22, an 89% increase from the $320 million reported on May 21. This heightened level of activity may have been caused by funds being siphoned out of the protocol.

Pseudonymous decentralized finance developer and attack tracer EthSecurity wrote in a post on his Telegram channel that the attacker moved the funds through a bridge to Ethereum. His alleged address held 5,300 Ether (ETH) at some point according to him, but now holds 3,243 ETH. One outbound transaction moved 20,000 ETH.

Some tokens, such as Lombard Staked BTC (LBTC) or AXOLcoin (AXOL) lost the near totality of their value on Cetus. The top 15 losers all lost in excess of three-quarters of their price.

Outside Cetus, LBTC appears to have gained over 4% in value over the last 24% according to CoinMarketCap data. Others, such as Axol (AXOL), have not been as fortunate, with CoinMarketCap data showing a loss of nearly 99.5%.

The alleged exploiter’s address contains nearly $52 million of Sui (SUI) tokens, $4.9 million of Haedal Staked SUI (HASUI), over $19.5 million of Toilet (TOILET), nearly $19.5 million of wrapped USDt (USDT) and many other assets.

The official Cetus X profile confirmed that an incident on the protocol was detected, and the smart contract was paused for safety. It added that an investigation is ongoing.

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Suspicious fund transfers raise alarm

However, blockchain analysts and compliance firms are raising doubts about the project’s transparency. A representative from AMLBot told Cointelegraph:

“We’re seeing $212 million being bridged to Ethereum at a rate of $1 million per minute. That level of urgency suggests there may be more to the story than a simple bug.”

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The AMLBot representative — referring to statements made by Cetus team members on Discord — further explained that while the Cetus team “is calling this incident ‘just a bug,’ — the timing raises questions.”

Onchain data service Onchain Lens stated in an X post that “the attacker gained control of all SUI-denominated pools, exploiting over $200M, and has also started moving $USDC.”

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This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.