BONK DAO lost $20 million in a governance system attack: token price dropped by 10%
The decentralized autonomous organization BONK DAO has fallen victim to a sophisticated attack on its governance mechanism. The attacker used a malicious proposal that was approved through the voting system, leading to the withdrawal of approximately $20 million in BONK tokens from the project's treasury.
This incident is not a smart contract hack, but rather a manipulation of the decision-making process within the DAO. According to on-chain analytics data, the attacker pre-purchased BONK worth about $4 million to secure a decisive number of votes for the approval of their proposal on the Realms platform on the Solana network. After approval, the transaction to transfer funds from the treasury was executed legitimately, but with criminal intent.
The stolen assets have already begun moving to cryptocurrency exchanges, indicating attempts at liquidation. The BONK team responded promptly: they identified the exchange wallet addresses that the attacker used to accumulate voting power. The project is now actively engaging with exchanges, the Solana Foundation, cross-chain bridge operators, and law enforcement agencies to freeze and recover the funds.
Attack Mechanics and Market Reaction
Unlike typical exploits that leverage code vulnerabilities, this attack targeted the human and procedural components of the DAO. The attacker simply "bought" their voting power, raising questions about the adequacy of current security thresholds for decision-making in large DAOs.
The market reacted instantly and harshly. Amid the news of the hack, the price of the memecoin BONK dropped by more than 10%. Investors are in a state of uncertainty, awaiting updates from the project team and exchanges. The event once again raises the critical issue of the need to implement protective mechanisms in DAOs: timelocks for transaction execution, multi-signature requirements for large transfers, and delays in executing treasury decisions that would prevent a single proposal from draining reserves.
Expert opinion: The attack on BONK DAO is another link in a chain of incidents demonstrating that decentralized governance without proper protection against "Sybil attacks" and vote manipulation is an illusion of security. Projects urgently need to review their mechanisms, introducing multi-level approval systems for critical transactions. Otherwise, trust in the very concept of DAOs as a secure way to manage capital will be undermined.