Points of Focus

• A malicious governance proposal drained $20 million from BonkDAO’s treasury.
• The attacker spent $4.4 million on BONK to secure enough voting power.
• BonkDAO notified law enforcement as governance security comes under scrutiny.

BonkDAO has confirmed that about $20 million worth of Bonk (BONK) tokens was removed from its treasury after an attacker pushed through what the project described as a malicious governance proposal. The treasury transfer was executed through the decentralized autonomous organization’s (DAO) governance process rather than a smart contract exploit, renewing scrutiny of how decentralized organizations protect community funds.

BonkDAO was the target of a malicious governance proposal resulting in an estimated $20M worth of BONK tokens being drained from the BonkDAO treasury.

During the investigation, BonkDAO identified the exchange wallets used to purchase BONK ahead of the proposal. BonkDAO is…

— BONK!!! (@bonk_inu) July 6, 2026

Malicious governance proposal drained BonkDAO treasury

According to BonkDAO, investigators identified the exchange wallets used to purchase BONK ahead of the proposal, which transferred around 4.426 trillion BONK from the treasury to a wallet under the attacker’s control after it was approved. The project said it has identified the wallets used to accumulate the voting stake and is working with exchanges, bridges, the Solana Foundation, and law enforcement to recover funds and identify those responsible.

Blockchain analytics company Chainalysis said the proposal was submitted on June 30 and required votes equal to 1% of BONK’s circulating supply to meet quorum. Onchain data shared by Lookonchain showed the attacker spent about $4.4 million buying 882.3 billion BONK on Bybit and Binance before casting all of those tokens in favor of the proposal.

Someone spent $4.4M to steal $21.2M from the #BONK treasury, making a profit of $16.8M.

How did it happen?👇

➡️ On June 30, the attacker submitted a governance proposal to transfer 4.426T $BONK($21.2M) from the treasury to a wallet he controlled (9bxW…JHvQ).… pic.twitter.com/VElnDuazki

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) July 7, 2026

Governance design faces renewed scrutiny

Chainalysis reported that the proposal passed with participation from only seven wallets, while more than 18,000 members did not vote. The treasury transfer was executed automatically after the proposal met quorum, prompting fresh scrutiny of DAO governance rules that allow temporary voting majorities to approve treasury transfers.

The incident has also revived debate over DAO governance. Chainalysis noted that every step of the transaction followed the protocol’s governance rules, leading some participants in the onchain community to argue that the attacker exploited governance design rather than code. BonkDAO has treated the incident as a treasury attack carried out through governance manipulation and has notified law enforcement as the investigation continues.

The attacker has already transferred about 40 billion BONK, valued at $188,000, to an exchange, while most of the remaining tokens remain in another wallet tracked by Lookonchain. BONK fell about 7% after news of the incident, while exchanges, including Upbit, temporarily suspended BONK deposits and withdrawals as the investigation continued.