Major Hack Drains $260 Million From Sui DeFi Protocol

Panic swept through decentralized markets on Thursday after a suspected vulnerability in Cetus Protocol triggered a massive liquidity drain across several Sui-based tokens.

What began as a sudden sell-off rapidly escalated into a full-blown DeFi crisis, with certain token prices collapsing by more than 90% in minutes.

Cetus, which positions itself as a leading DeFi infrastructure layer for the Sui network, became the center of attention as its smart contracts were abruptly paused due to a critical issue. The protocol acknowledged the incident via X (formerly Twitter), stating that the team was actively investigating and would share more details soon.

While some tokens like LOFI and HIPPO plunged by over 50%, others fared far worse, cratering nearly entirely. On-chain data platforms showed that prices on centralized exchanges held up longer, but signs of wider contagion have since emerged, dragging down the overall Sui token market.

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The CETUS token itself wasn’t spared—losing around half its value on decentralized exchanges and falling 30% overall in less than an hour.

According to blockchain investigators at Lookonchain, more than $260 million was siphoned from the protocol. A large chunk of the stolen funds was converted into USDC, bridged to Ethereum, and then swapped for ETH. PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, confirmed over $200 million had been compromised, supporting the $60 million cross-chain transfer figure.

While initial community reactions speculated a full-scale hack, some developers argue the root cause may have been an oracle manipulation bug—an exploit of flawed price feeds rather than direct smart contract vulnerabilities. Regardless of the technical details, the outcome remains the same: tens of millions in digital assets have been drained, confidence in the protocol has been severely shaken, and Sui’s DeFi sector is reeling.

Alexander Stefanov