Crypto Exchange Cetus Hit By Second-Largest Hack Of 2025

Cetus Protocol was hacked for $223 million in cryptocurrency, prompting a platform freeze, whitehat deal, and a $5 million public bounty.

Cetus Protocol, a decentralized exchange (DEX) and major liquidity provider on the SUI blockchain, was hacked for $223 million in digital assets. The attackers exploited a vulnerability in the platform’s smart contracts, draining multiple token pools in a matter of minutes.

The blockchain analytics firm Elliptic tracked the stolen funds by observing the attackers swap USDT for USDC stablecoins before transferring them to the Ethereum network for conversion into ETH.

Bleeping Computer (BC) reports how Cetus Protocol initiated a quick response by halting its smart contract operations while starting an internal investigation process. The platform implemented an emergency validator vote which resulted in freezing $162 million of assets.

📜 Dear Sui community, thank you for your patience while our team works on the incident investigation and resolution.

Since taking the actions indicated in our previous announcement, we have also done the following:

1. We engaged the broader ecosystem, Sui team, and related… https://t.co/Gs1EWXZ6AD

— Cetus🐳 (@CetusProtocol) May 22, 2025

The DEX team located the Ethereum wallet of the hacker while they collaborated with law enforcement agencies and third parties to recover stolen funds.

The DEX presented the hacker with a whitehat proposal which included a deal to return the funds without facing legal consequences. The DEX increased its pressure on the hacker by issuing a $5 million reward for any information that leads to their capture, as reported by BC.

Elliptic notes that the Cetus attack stands as the second-largest cryptocurrency theft of 2025 after the $1.46 billion Bybit theft occurred. The Cetus attack joins other decentralized finance platforms in raising security concerns about their platforms because they lost more than $2 billion to hacking incidents during 2024.

As investigations continue, the industry is watching closely to see how this high-profile case unfolds.