BonkDAO Attacker Moves $19M Stolen Funds Into New Shadow DAO

How the Attack Unfolded

On July 6, an attacker spent approximately four million dollars purchasing BONK tokens to gain near-complete voting control over a seven-wallet governance process. Using this concentrated token position, the attacker passed a vote that authorized a twenty million dollar transfer from BonkDAO's treasury, according to Crypto.news. The attack exploited governance mechanics rather than smart contract vulnerabilities — no code was compromised.

The Attacker's Next Move

Chainalysis reported Tuesday that the wallet behind the attack has now moved most of the stolen BONK into a multisig address controlled by a newly formed shadow DAO, labeled "BONK 2.0." Chainalysis characterized the amount held as $19 million worth of BONK, slightly lower than the headline theft figure but consistent with on-chain movement of the loot. The consolidation into a multisig structure may signal an attempt to obscure the funds or establish a governance layer around them.

Governance Attack Risk Exposed

The incident illustrates a known vulnerability in DAOs with low voter participation and concentrated token distribution. An attacker with sufficient capital can temporarily acquire enough voting tokens to pass measures favoring themselves, then exit. BonkDAO's reliance on a small number of wallets for governance votes created a minimal barrier to takeover — a pattern repeated across several major DAO hacks in recent years.