Balance Coin Falls 99% After $915,000 Attack on 42DAO

Balance Coin plunged more than 99% to about $0.00136 from roughly $0.9954 after a reported exploit of 42DAO, the decentralized organization that governs the Balance Protocol. Market data showed the rapid collapse occurred over a short period and trading activity shifted sharply.

Blockchain security firm PeckShield reported the depeg followed a $915,000 exploit of 42DAO. Security tracker TenArmor detected a suspicious attack involving a component called GemJoin on the BNB Chain and flagged activity that appeared to target governance or treasury functions tied to the protocol.

Balance Coin is an algorithmic stablecoin designed to maintain a one-to-one peg with the US dollar using automated on-chain mechanisms rather than fiat reserves. If those mechanisms fail or are manipulated, the token can lose its peg quickly.

Security firms are tracing on-chain flows to determine whether funds were drained, governance keys were compromised, or a flash-loan style manipulation took place. Alerts from the firms have been published while investigators examine irregular transactions and follow funds on the blockchain.

At the time of reporting, neither the Balance Protocol team nor 42DAO had issued an official statement. Market liquidity and trading volume for the token moved sharply during the same window as the price collapse.

Further technical details and any recovery steps will depend on the outcome of the ongoing on-chain analysis and any disclosures from the protocol’s maintainers.