Sui Drops 5% After Cetus Hack Loses $11M
1min read On May 22, 2025, the price of Sui (SUI) experienced a sharp decline following reports that Cetus, a leading decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Sui network, had been hacked. The incident resulted in the draining of approximately $11 million in SUI, causing significant downward pressure on the cryptocurrency's value.
Prior to the hack, Sui was poised for a potential uptick towards $5 as Bitcoin reached a new all-time high above $111k. However, the negative news of the Cetus exploit led to a rapid decline in SUI's price, which fell more than 5% within an hour, dropping from around $4.20 to $3.92. This decline saw the cryptocurrency’s market cap dip to $13.3 billion, although it remained above the lows of $3.60 reached on May 19 due to token unlock sentiment.
The Cetus protocol team acknowledged the incident via an update on X, stating that the team had temporarily paused the protocol’s smart contract “for safety.” Cetus’ security team also initiated an investigation into the incident. Analysts claimed that more than $260 million was taken from the exchange, with the emptying of pools causing most tokens on the DEX to plummet by more than 70%. The hacker siphoned millions in Sui from the SUI/USDC pool, adding to the downside pressure on SUI.
On May 21, Sui had jumped to $4.20, its highest level since May 7, mirroring Bitcoin’s spike to a new all-time peak. However, the hacking incident reversed this upward trend, highlighting the vulnerability of decentralized finance platforms to security breaches.
The slight dip in SUI's price sees the native token risk losing the momentum it had signaled in recent days. SUI has become one of the fastest-growing chains with regard to decentralized finance, with the platform’s total value locked at $2.79 billion – up from $1.43 billion in early March 2025. Grayscale’s unveiling of its SUI Trust and excitement over 21Shares’s move to file for a spot SUI ETF have added to the positive outlook.
However, despite the filings and DeFi activity, SUI has traded mostly range-bound in recent weeks. A notable token unlock did not help the bulls’ case. SUI’s technical picture shows indecisiveness as the RSI on the daily chart indicates a potential bullish run. However, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator has the histogram suggesting weakness remains unless a bullish crossover confirms. In this case, the $3.60 area might be crucial for support. On the other hand, a breakout above $4.20 could spark a fresh rally for SUI. Key hurdles may be at $4.30 and then $5.37.
