BONK DAO lost $20 million in a governance system attack: token price crashed by 10%
BONK DAO fell victim to a sophisticated attack on its decentralized governance mechanism. The attacker managed to push a malicious proposal through the voting system, resulting in the withdrawal of approximately $20 million in BONK tokens from the treasury. This event triggered a sharp decline in the memecoin's price by more than 10%.
The stolen assets have already begun moving to cryptocurrency exchanges. The project team immediately contacted exchanges, the Solana Foundation, and law enforcement agencies in an attempt to block and recover the funds. Amid this news, investors rushed to offload the token, further intensifying market pressure.
Attack Mechanics: Voting as a Weapon
Unlike typical smart contract hacks, in this case, the vulnerability was found not in the code but in the very logic of DAO governance. According to blockchain analysts, before carrying out the attack, the perpetrator purchased approximately $4 million worth of BONK. This purchase allowed them to secure enough voting power to approve the proposal on the Realms platform on the Solana network.
After approval, the malicious transaction transferred assets from the DAO treasury to wallets controlled by the attacker. The BONK team is now cooperating with cryptocurrency exchanges, cross-chain bridge operators, and law enforcement to track and recover the funds. Some of the stolen tokens have already been spotted on exchange deposits, indicating attempts to convert them into fiat or other assets.
What's Next for BONK?
This incident once again raises fundamental questions about the security of decentralized autonomous organizations. Protective mechanisms such as timelocks, multi-signatures, and treasury execution delays proved insufficient. A single major proposal was able to drain the protocol's reserves.
Investors are now in a state of anticipation: whether the funds can be recovered, what steps exchanges will take, and whether new, more reliable governance mechanisms will emerge to protect the BONK treasury. For now, the market shows distrust, and the token continues to face selling pressure.
Expert Opinion: This attack is a wake-up call for the entire Solana ecosystem. DAOs must urgently reassess their security systems, implementing multi-layered checks and time delays for large transactions. Otherwise, such incidents will become the new norm, undermining trust in decentralized governance as a whole.