Governance Attack
Manipulating a voting system by temporarily getting lots of voting power. Often done by borrowing tokens just for a single vote.
Example
Borrowing $20M in governance tokens through a flash loan, voting to steal funds, then returning the tokens - all in seconds.
Related Terms
Advanced Concepts
⚙️How It Works
- 1
Accumulate Voting Power
Attacker borrows or buys massive amounts of tokens
- 2
Submit Proposal
Create a malicious proposal (drain treasury, mint tokens)
- 3
Force Vote
Use overwhelming voting power to pass the proposal
- 4
Execute & Exit
Proposal executes, attacker takes funds and sells tokens
⚠️Risks & Warnings
- •Flash loans enable borrowing billions of dollars of tokens instantly
- •Low voter turnout makes attacks easier
- •Newly launched protocols with thin token distribution are most vulnerable
- •Short timelock periods don't give enough time to react