Punk Protocol
Last changed 2026-10-10 · Score recalculated — Rescored under Scoring v2, the published formula (avoid.net/scoring): 22 → 50. Problems weighed by who is responsible: incidents the subject suffered −6.4, concerns that are not fraud −6.4, problems around the subject, caused by others −2.4; legitimacy credit long-running +8, regulated +5; no longer operating, so capped at 50. Version history →
Why this score
| Every page starts at | 65 |
| Concerns that are not fraud | -6.4 |
| Incidents it suffered (e.g. hacks) | -6.4 |
| Problems around it, caused by others | -2.4 |
| Long-running | +8 |
| Regulated | +5 |
| Sum | 63 |
- No longer operating, so capped at 50.
Score: 50/100 (kept between 0 and 100)
How scoring works →Summary
Punk Protocol was an Ethereum-based DeFi project that positioned itself as a decentralized annuity and pension service. On August 10, 2021, it suffered a critical smart contract exploit due to a missing access-control modifier in its CompoundModel contract, resulting in approximately $8.95 million in stablecoin losses; roughly $5 million was partially recovered via a white-hat frontrunner who retained a $1 million bounty. The project launched without a security audit, has published no meaningful updates since late 2021, and its PUNK token currently trades at effectively zero volume, indicating the project is dormant or abandoned.
Connected Entities
4 entities · 60 linked investigations- Punk Protocol→mentioned with→Ethereum(80%)
- Punk Protocol→mentioned with→Binance(60%)
- Punk Protocol→mentioned with→ZachXBT(70%)
- Binance→mentioned with→Ethereum(65%)
- ZachXBT→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
- ZachXBT→mentioned with→Binance(60%)
Timeline(8 events)
June 2021
Punk Protocol announces fair launch; team led by pseudonymous contributors 0xJohnny and 0xMateo; contracts described as pending audit
10 August 2021
Smart contract exploit occurs; attacker uses delegateCall to exploit unprotected initialize() function in CompoundModel, draining approximately $8.95 million in USDC, USDT, and DAI
10 August 2021
White-hat frontrunner bot intercepts approximately $6 million of the drain before the attacker can secure it; stolen USDC routed through 1inch and Tornado Cash
11 August 2021
Punk Protocol publishes incident report; suspends deposits and withdrawals; commits to unconditional compensation of all affected users
13 August 2021
White-hat actor returns approximately $4,954,250 in USDT and DAI after retaining approximately $1 million DAI as a finder's fee
September 2021
Punk Protocol publishes compensation plan; issues 4,041,504 peUSD tokens to affected users; freezes 3,150,000 PUNK contributor tokens pending full recovery; announces NFT drop and protocol revenue as funding mechanisms
2022
Last known substantive public communications from Punk Protocol; Medium blog activity ceases
27 May 2026
PUNK token reports $0 price and zero trading volume; project appears dormant; Recovery Fund completion status unconfirmed
Decision Log
- slot 455360856 · hash HJNbtDNMJGYUqtAxxzxbbZcPhrzCwBHok4HsUQGM6e8D
- slot 422555116 · hash 7uWx2DEDHSLuiE16xHAu7wCk9nf1GiPamtxe6tpi5x6W
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (2 decisions). 10 of 13 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:55 AM
last updated: 10/10/2026, 6:41:40 PM
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