The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) of the meme coin BONK, BonkDAO, has faced a serious security incident. As a result of a malicious proposal being passed in the governance system, tokens worth approximately $20 million were withdrawn from the organization's treasury. This incident immediately triggered a reaction from cryptocurrency exchanges: Kraken and Upbit temporarily suspended BONK deposit and withdrawal operations.
According to a statement from the team, an unknown attacker pushed through a malicious proposal in the governance system, which allowed them to withdraw funds. Technical details of the attack and voting parameters have not yet been disclosed. However, according to available information, this is a classic example of an attack where a holder of a large volume of tokens uses their voting weight to transfer funds to their own advantage.
The incident occurred on July 6, and the voting took place via the Solana Realms platform, used for managing DAOs in the Solana ecosystem. The withdrawal of funds is linked to the Bonk Improvement Proposal #76, which allegedly proposed "implementing Sowellian governance" and appointing new council members. The text also contained a promise of a reward for those who voted "for."
It is important to note that the tokens were not distributed among the voting participants. The funds were first sent to an address associated with a deposit via a Bybit account, and then transferred to another wallet. This indicates a well-planned operation to drain liquidity.
The market reaction was immediate. BONK quotes lost 7.7% over the last 24 hours, and at the time of writing, the meme token is trading around $0.00000432. Exchanges, including Upbit and Kraken, temporarily suspended BONK deposits and withdrawals, further adding to the downward pressure on the rate.
Analytical commentary: This incident highlights a fundamental vulnerability of many DAOs, where the concentration of tokens among large holders can be used to manipulate the governance system. While meme coins continue to attract speculative interest, the security issues of their governance remain critical. I expect that BonkDAO will review its voting mechanisms and implement stricter security measures to prevent such attacks in the future. The 7.7% drop in BONK is merely a short-term reaction; the long-term consequences will depend on how the team restores community trust and whether it recovers the funds.