Compound crypto governance attack: ‘Cunning’ scheme or legitimate play?

    Compound crypto DAO experienced a governance attack by the Golden Boys, led by Humpy.
    Proposal 290 aims to introduce delays in governance actions to prevent future attacks.

As a seasoned researcher who has witnessed numerous twists and turns in the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrencies, I must say that the recent governance attack on Compound DAO by the Golden Boys, led by Humpy, is a stark reminder of the challenges faced in this industry.


It was unexpectedly announced that the Compound DAO, responsible for managing the decentralized lending system, faced a possible threat to its governance.

What happened?

The discussions on Compounds’ Forum indicated that the influential group called the Golden Boys, with Humpy at the helm, tried to influence the platform’s decisions by gaining significant control over COMP tokens.

Jared Grey, CEO of SushiSwap, pointed out that Humpy’s behaviors led to considerable chaos and ambiguity among the Golden Boys.

It’s quite possible that Humpy has infiltrated their group, leading them to recruit fresh members. They might find themselves in a difficult situation trying to handle this development. Humpy is known for his cleverness and craftiness.

Based on the information available, it seems that the team has tried multiple times to push through proposals that could potentially enhance their own protocol, known as goldCOMP.

The initial two plans encountered obstacles from the community and encountered procedural problems, resulting in their failure. In contrast, Proposal 289 was met with success upon presentation to the community and overcame any procedural challenges.

In this proposal, we suggested transferring COMP tokens to the gold COMP vault. Some people raised concerns that this was an attempt to misdirect funds, but Humpy assured us that their system is designed to prevent any unauthorized withdrawal of funds.

Execs weigh in

Alex Netto, CEO at Blockful, explained it well when he said, 

Initially, it might seem unusual as the whale has invested heavily for substantial voting rights within Compound’s DAO. But upon closer examination of this user’s typical actions, suspicions about a potential attack may resurface.

As a reaction, community members suggested Proposal 290 to insert a waiting period for governance decisions to minimize future occurrences of similar attacks.

1. Apart from the assault, Compound users were troubled by the team’s apparent neglect in addressing user safety issues.

Compound crypto governance attack: ‘Cunning’ scheme or legitimate play?

In fact, when Compound users inquired about their safety during the governance attack, by asking, 

 “yo are we safe?”

The Compound team members responded by saying, 

 “do not at me again. It is against the rules.” 

Compound crypto governance attack: ‘Cunning’ scheme or legitimate play?

Impact on COMP token

The attack on Compound’s governance led to a sharp decline of more than 6% for its native token, COMP.

nonetheless, the drop didn’t last long, as COMP experienced a resurgence and rose around 6% over the preceding 24 hours, demonstrating growth based on CoinMarketCap data.

That being said, it remains to be determined whether it will prevent the Golden Boys.

Martin Schmidt, co-initiator at Q.org, in an email sent to AMBCrypto, put it best when he said, 

As a researcher, I’ve come to realize that the issue at hand surpasses straightforward programming solutions. It necessitates the establishment of a fundamental framework of spending guidelines, which must be in place. Additionally, an adequately distributed system for enforcing these rules is essential for its effective functioning.

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2024-07-30 20:08