Attacker steals $21.2 million from Bonk treasury via governance exploit

A clever but malicious action costs the Bonk treasury tens of millions of dollars. An attacker spends just $4.4 million to steal $21.2 million worth of Bonk tokens via a governance exploit, netting a profit of $16.8 million. The blockchain detectives at Lookonchain reveal the attack step by step.

Bonk is available on OKX and Bybit.

How the attacker takes control of the governance system

On 30 June, the attacker submits a governance proposal to BonkDAO. The proposal, called BIP #76 under the name Sowellian BonkDAO, suggests transferring 4.426 trillion Bonk worth $21.2 million to a wallet he controls. The description states that it concerns implementing Sowellian governance, installing new members and rebuilding the DAO. All eligible voters who vote yes would receive tokens.

For the proposal to pass, a quorum of 879.95 billion Bonk is needed. The attacker then buys a total of 882.285 billion Bonk worth $4.4 million via Bybit and Binance, just enough to reach the threshold. He then votes yes with all tokens. Only 7 wallets cast votes in total, with a participation rate of just 2.9%. The opposing vote of 710.85 million Bonk is far from enough against the 882.38 billion tokens that vote in favour.

Millions of dollars exit the treasury towards exchanges

As soon as the proposal is automatically executed, the full 4.426 trillion Bonk flows directly to the attacker’s wallet. He then begins to move the loot. Onchain data from Arkham shows that 30 billion Bonk worth $141.000 and 10 billion Bonk worth $47.000 go to OKX. In total, about 40 billion Bonk, worth $188.000, ends up on that exchange.

The vast majority of the stolen tokens, namely 4.386 trillion Bonk worth $18.64 million, remains in another wallet for now. Whether and when the attacker will sell those tokens further is not yet known at the time of writing. The attack once again shows how vulnerable governance structures with low participation can be when a party deploys enough capital to dominate the quorum.