How $220M was stolen in minutes: Understanding the Cetus DEX exploit on Sui

The Cetus DEX exploit on Sui drained $220 million in minutes. The hacker took advantage of an undetected bug in the math library of the protocol to siphon off the funds.

On May 22, 2025, Cetus Protocol, the primary decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Sui blockchain, suffered a major hack, marking one of the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) breaches in cryptocurrency history. 

An attacker exploited Cetus’ pricing mechanism flaw, stealing approximately $260 million in digital assets. This incident significantly impacted the Sui community, causing the Sui (SUI) token price to drop by about 15% to $3.81 by May 29.

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