---
title: "SUI-Based Cetus Protocol Reportedly Exploited for Over $260M, Investigation Underway"
url: https://diffcoin.com/sui-based-cetus-protocol-reportedly-exploited-for-over-260m-investigation-underway/
description: "Cetus confirmed the exploit and paused operations. Several Sui-based tokens, such as LBTC, AXOL, and LOFI, crashed following the breach."
published: 2025-05-22
updated: 2025-05-22
author: "Mila"
site: "Diffcoin"
---

# SUI-Based Cetus Protocol Reportedly Exploited for Over $260M, Investigation Underway

Cetus, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Sui blockchain, has reportedly suffered a devastating exploit. According to on-chain investigator Lookonchain’s update, over $260 million was stolen from Cetus.

The attacker swapped the stolen assets into USDC and bridged roughly $60 million to Ethereum, where it was exchanged for ETH.

Lookonchain further reported that the exploiter has already spent $58.3 million USDC to purchase 21,938 ETH at an average price of $2,658 per token.

The breach has caused a dramatic collapse in the value of numerous Sui-based tokens on Cetus, with some assets like LBTC and AXOL losing nearly all their value. Other tokens such as LOFI, HIPPO, and SQUIRT have lost over 80% in the past six hours, according to data compiled by DEX Screener.

Cetus acknowledged the exploit via its official X account and confirmed that it had paused its smart contracts as a precaution and launched an internal investigation.

> “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.”

Onchain Lens previously speculated that the attacker had gained control of all SUI-denominated liquidity pools before draining them.

Meanwhile, Binance founder CZ tweeted that their team has extended support to the Sui team following the incident.

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