- BonkDAO suffered a $20 million treasury drain after a malicious governance proposal was pushed and approved by attackers.
- The exploiters purchased $4 million worth of BONK tokens to secure enough voting power to passed the malicious proposal.
- Major cryptocurrency exchanges, including South Korea’s Upbit, have suspended BONK deposits and withdrawals following the incident.
The Solana-based decentralized autonomous organization behind the dog-themed memecoin BONK, BonkDAO, has lost $20 million from its community treasury after an attacker successfully executed a governance-takeover exploit.
According to statements from the organization, the attacker deployed a malicious governance proposal engineered to transfer a massive cache of treasury funds directly to their personal wallet address. To ensure the proposal successfully cleared voting thresholds, the exploiters purchased approximately $4 million worth of BONK tokens in the open market ahead of the vote, using the newly acquired leverage to force the approval through the DAO’s voting mechanisms.
“During the investigation, BonkDAO identified the exchange wallets used to purchase BONK ahead of the proposal,” the organization stated in a social media release. BonkDAO confirmed it has already notified law enforcement authorities and is collaborating with multiple crypto security firms to trace the asset flows and identify the perpetrators behind the exploit.
Unlike standard technical smart contract exploits, governance attacks leverage the underlying rules of a project’s voting framework to legitimate a theft through legalistic platform processes. By acquiring a dominant minority stake, well-capitalized bad actors can overwhelm organic voter turnout—a vulnerability that previously crippled projects like Beanstalk Farms.
In reaction to the sudden treasury depletion and market volatility, several prominent digital asset trading platforms have moved swiftly to isolate the fallout. South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, announced a temporary suspension of BONK deposits and withdrawals, citing security reviews following the network event.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute advice of any kind. Readers should conduct their own research before making any decisions.
