- An attacker pushed a malicious proposal through BonkDAO’s token-weighted voting on Solana’s Realms platform and drained about $20 million in BONK from the treasury.
- The stolen tokens moved to exchanges, BONK fell more than 9%, and Upbit suspended deposits and withdrawals.
- For BONK holders, it is a direct hit to the treasury that funds the ecosystem, with no recovery timeline, and the attacker still unidentified.
An attacker has moved roughly $20 million in BONK tokens out of the BonkDAO community’s treasury. The token is now down more than 9%.
A chunk of the total token supply is now sitting in a thief’s wallet until they decide to sell.
How was BonkDAO attacked?
BonkDAO confirmed through its official X account that it was the target of a malicious governance proposal resulting in an estimated $20M worth of BONK tokens being drained from the BonkDAO treasury.
The attack occurred on Solana’s Realms platform, which runs BonkDAO’s token-weighted voting system.
The perpetrator first accumulated a large amount of the BONK token through exchange wallets, then submitted a proposal. Using that concentrated voting power, the proposal was passed easily. Once approved, the proposal authorized the treasury transfer.
Blockchain investigators estimate the attacker spent roughly $4 million to buy enough BONK tokens for this attack.
Similar attacks have occurred on other Solana and cross-chain protocols between 2025 and 2026. Sometimes, those responsible used flash loans to borrow enough tokens to win the majority vote inside one transaction.
Although whether this attacker borrowed the tokens or accumulated them patiently through exchanges has not been confirmed.
What is BONK doing now?
Following the incident, the stolen BONK started heading toward exchanges, and the token fell more than 9%. South Korea’s Upbit has since frozen the token, telling exchange users that BONK deposits and withdrawals had been “temporarily suspended.”
BonkDAO said in its statement that it has identified the exchange wallets used to buy up its tokens before the proposal went live. It is reportedly also working with other exchanges, bridges, and the Solana Foundation to track the stolen money and try to freeze it before it disappears.
The project has yet to offer any timeline for getting the funds back.
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FAQs
How did the BonkDAO attack work?
The attacker accumulated a large BONK position through exchange wallets, then used that voting power to pass a malicious governance proposal on Solana's Realms platform that authorized transferring roughly $20 million in tokens out of the treasury.
How much did the BONK price drop after the attack?
BONK fell more than 9%, trading at $0.00000421 in Binance's USDT market on July 7, down about 11.7% over 24 hours.
What is BonkDAO doing to recover the funds?
BonkDAO says it has notified law enforcement, identified the exchange wallets used to buy BONK before the proposal, and is working with exchanges, bridges, and the Solana Foundation to trace and freeze the stolen tokens, though no recovery timeline has been given.
Disclaimer. The information provided is not trading advice. Cryptopolitan.com holds no liability for any investments made based on the information provided on this page. We strongly recommend independent research and/or consultation with a qualified professional before making any investment decisions.
Hannah Collymore
Hannah is a writer and editor with nearly a decade of blog writing and event reporting experience in the crypto space. At Cryptopolitan, Hannah contributes to the news page, reporting and analyzing the latest developments in DeFi, RWA, crypto regulation, AI and frontier tech industries. She graduated from Arcadia university with a degree in Business Administration.
