Can BONK survive the $20 million treasury exploit as sellers pile in?

BONK price has dropped nearly 8% over the past 24 hours as a USD 20 million (approx. $29.1 million) BonkDAO treasury exploit and continued selling have kept investors on edge.

According to CoinGecko data, BONK was trading around $0.0000041 at the time of writing after extending losses throughout the past day, with the memecoin showing no sign of recovery following the security incident.

Investor sentiment deteriorated after BonkDAO disclosed that it had become the target of a malicious governance proposal that drained an estimated USD 20 million (approx. $29.1 million) worth of BONK tokens from the DAO treasury. 

The project said it had identified the exchange wallets used to acquire BONK before the proposal was submitted and is working with exchanges, blockchain bridges and the Solana Foundation to manage the situation.

Law enforcement has also been notified, while BonkDAO said it is coordinating with relevant parties to recover the funds and identify those responsible.

Community members, however, pointed to a more severe governance issue behind the exploit. 

Responding to Bonk's announcement, some community members highlighted that the proposal passed through the existing governance process after the proposer acquired roughly USD 4.4 million (approx. $6.4 million) worth of BONK to meet the 1% quorum requirement before voting in favour of the proposal.

They added that only seven wallets participated despite the DAO having more than 18,000 eligible wallets.

These developments have raised concerns that the stolen tokens could eventually be moved through cross-chain bridges or cryptocurrency exchanges and sold into the market, increasing potential selling pressure.

The situation has also disrupted trading activity after South Korean exchange Upbit temporarily suspended BONK deposits and withdrawals while monitoring the incident.

Bonk's public response has so far done little to reassure the market. 

Although the project confirmed it is working with exchanges and investigators, it did not say that the stolen tokens had been frozen or recovered, leaving uncertainty over whether the assets could still reach the market. 

BONK continued trading lower after the statement, suggesting investors remain cautious while awaiting further updates.

BONK technicals favour more downside

Selling pressure remains visible across multiple timeframes, with BONK trading below its 20, 50, 100 and 200 exponential moving averages on the 4-hour chart.

BONK/USDT 4-hour price chart. Source: TradingView.

The short-term averages also remain below the longer-term averages, signalling that bearish momentum continues to dominate after the latest rejection.

Earlier this month, buyers briefly pushed BONK higher, but the rally failed before reclaiming the 200 EMA. 

Sellers regained control soon afterwards, sending the token back below the shorter moving averages and extending the decline.

The 4-hour Stochastic RSI has also fallen into deeply oversold territory, suggesting selling has accelerated to an extreme level. 

While such readings can sometimes precede a short-lived relief bounce, they do not on their own indicate that the downtrend has ended.

The daily chart offers little evidence that buyers have regained control. 

BONK is trading beneath the high-volume price area shown by the Volume Profile indicator, leaving previous support levels as potential resistance if the token attempts to recover.

BONK/USDT 1-day price chart. Source: TradingView.

At the same time, the Chaikin Money Flow indicator has dropped to around -0.23, pointing to continued capital outflows. 

Combined with BONK's inability to attract sustained buying following the treasury exploit, the technical picture indicates that downside risks remain elevated unless the project provides clearer evidence that the stolen funds have been contained or recovered.