The Bonk (BONK) DAO has suffered a sophisticated governance attack, resulting in the loss of approximately $20 million worth of BONK tokens. Blockchain analytics firm Unfolded first reported that the stolen funds are being moved to various cryptocurrency exchanges, indicating an attempt to liquidate the assets.
According to an official statement from the Bonk Inu X account, an attacker pushed through a malicious governance proposal that allowed the treasury to be drained. Governance attacks typically occur when an entity gains control of sufficient voting power to pass harmful proposals. In this case, the attacker exploited the DAO's voting mechanism to siphon funds from the treasury, which was intended to finance ecosystem development and community initiatives.
The incident has already impacted the market. BONK's price is down over 9%, as reported by The Block's price page, and the selling pressure is likely to increase as the stolen tokens hit exchanges. South Korean exchange Upbit has temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals for BONK in response to the breach.
Bonk DAO confirmed that law enforcement has been notified and that the team is working with relevant parties to recover the funds and identify the perpetrators. The attack highlights the persistent security risks in decentralized governance systems, especially as DAO treasuries grow in size. For the Solana ecosystem—where BONK is a prominent memecoin—this raises renewed concerns about the robustness of on-chain governance.
BONK holders are advised to monitor official channels for updates and to be cautious of potential phishing scams related to recovery efforts.
