The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) behind the Bonk (BONK) memecoin reported that an unknown entity had removed $20 million worth of the tokens in what it described as an attack using a “malicious governance proposal.”
In a Monday X post, the Bonk project said that it had informed law enforcement after the $20 million attack and was working to “recover funds and identify those responsible.” According to BonkDAO, the parties had drained $20 million in tokens from the project’s treasury on the Solana blockchain.
One of the dog-themed memecoins, along with tokens like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), BONK launched in December 2022, with its developers airdropping half of the token’s total supply. The price of BONK dropped about 7% over 24 hours amid reports of the attack, to about $0.05.
Source: Bonk Inu
The market capitalization of the top memecoins, including DOGE, SHIB and Pepe (PEPE), hit a two-year low last week, dropping to about $22 billion before recovering to more than $26 billion in July. According to CoinMarketCap data, the total market cap was $25.3 billion at the time of publication, down more than 54% over the previous 12 months.
Related: US senator calls for ban on elected officials issuing memecoins
In May, the memecoin launch platform DxSale reported losing $7.3 million in tokens following a cyberattack affecting liquidity providers on the BNB Chain. Although sleuths were able to identify the attacker’s wallet, one expert said the infrastructure used to move the funds could make tracing them difficult.
Trump memecoin holders lose big as president reports billions in crypto earnings
On Saturday, the New York Times reported that about 1 million investors in US President Donald Trump’s memecoin, Official Trump (TRUMP), had collectively lost $3.8 million as of June 30. The report, citing data from blockchain analytics company Nansen, came a few days after the president disclosed that he had earned more than $1.4 billion from his crypto-related ventures, including about $635 million from memecoin projects.
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