A major security incident has struck Cetus, a decentralised exchange (DEX) on the Sui blockchain, with suspected losses exceeding$200 million. Onchain data revealed rapid asset drainage, prompting experts to label the event as a possible hack rather than a mere bug, as claimed by the Cetus team.

Reports indicate that at least$63 million has already been transferred to Ethereum, including a large single transaction of 20,000 ETH moved to a new wallet.

Transaction volumes on Cetus surged to$2.9 billion on 22 May, compared to$320 million the previous day, suggesting funds were rapidly siphoned from the platform.

Several tokens lost over 75% of their value, causing wider disruption; for instance, the Sui-based money market Scallop halted all borrowing activities as a precaution.

Concerns over transparency have grown as$212 million in assets were reportedly bridged to Ethereum at a rate of$1 million per minute. Analysts argue the scale and speed of transfers hint at something more serious than a simple software glitch.

Cetus paused the affected smart contract and announced an ongoing investigation, but has yet to provide a detailed response.

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