Binance manipulating governance votes? This will be a more dangerous on-chain coup than any hacker attack

Author: Ice Frog

On April 8, 2025, Binance announced to the entire industry with an almost blatant on-chain coup: under the iron fist of capital, the governance mechanism of DeFi is fundamentally vulnerable.

When Binance no longer plays the role of "industry promoter," but instead strips away its disguise and intervenes in governance, it kills not just a project, but all confidence and trust in the future of Web3.

This is a governance attack, and more so, a strangulation of ideals.

This is a historic irony of "centralized giants personally destroying decentralized faith."

I. Basic Facts: A Systematic Purge Triggered by a "Reform Proposal"

On April 8, 2025, PancakeSwap released the "CAKE Tokenomics 3.0" proposal, with the core content:

• Abolish the veCAKE locking and voting mechanism;
• Emission distribution to be centrally controlled by the team;
• All governance power will return to the central team.

In the promotion, this was packaged as "simplification, deflation, optimization," but in essence, it was a liquidation cover targeting the ve model.

The most direct victim was Cakepie—a community DAO that secured governance rights by locking 12.8 million CAKE, fought for community user benefits, and formed a check-and-balance force against PancakeSwap.

Behind this proposal, the puppet master also surfaced.

II. On-Chain Evidence: Binance's Liquidation Address Dominated the Vote

On the eve of the proposal, a previously "retired" on-chain whale address suddenly "revived":

Address: 0xd183f2bbf8b28d9fec8367cb06fe72b88778c86b

This address was Binance's liquidation address used to take over hacker funds after the BNB bridge attack in 2022.

Subsequently:

1. Suddenly locked 25 million CAKE, minted as veCAKE, becoming the largest voting entity;

2. Dominated support for the proposal, which could be immediately unlocked after passing, incurring no locking costs;

3. Achieved a governance blitzkrieg of "zero-cost power grab and one-time harvest."

Meanwhile, Cakepie was directly stripped of its governance status, and the community value system worth tens of millions of dollars was wiped out overnight.

If this is not manipulation, then what is?

III. Is Binance Manipulating? The On-Chain Logic Loop Has Given the Answer

Is this Binance manipulating? Let's break it down point by point:

1. Huge amount of funds: 25 million CAKE + 36 million USD stablecoins, beyond what retail investors can provide;

2. Clear address background: the wallet used by Binance in 2022 for black market takeover, with governance proposals granting whitelist permissions proposed by the BNB Chain team, and Binance injected tens of millions of dollars for liquidation operations. Essentially, this is an operation address jointly controlled by Binance and BNB officials.

3. Precise operation timing: locked before the proposal, immediately unlocked after passing;

4. Clear profit harvesting: after abolishing veCAKE, emissions return to the officials and related parties; it is well-known that Pancake is the largest DEX on BSC and the exclusive partner for various new investment activities of Binance, as well as a project exclusively invested by Binance.

5. Long-term beneficiaries are victims: Community DAOs like Cakepie lost all voice, and user interests were wiped out.

All of this points not just to the "behind the scenes," but to the "front stage." This is Binance directly intervening, launching a coup on-chain.

IV. The Capital Logic Behind the Governance Attack: Those Who Are Not Insiders Must Be Liquidated

This action is not complicated; its essential logic can be summed up in one sentence: whoever controls emissions controls power; whoever threatens power must be dealt with.

When Cakepie controlled more than half of veCAKE through the DAO model and began to influence PancakeSwap's incentive direction, distribution mechanism, and governance voting results, it became an "intolerable" variable in Binance's eyes.

Moreover:

1⃣ The bribery benefits brought by veCAKE flowed into community projects like Cakepie and Magpie, rather than Binance itself;

2⃣ The long-term locking of the ve mechanism made it difficult for Binance to use the CAKE held by users for governance, leading to a loss of power;

3⃣ PancakeSwap, as the absolute core DEX of the BSC ecosystem, is the most critical part of Binance's DeFi landscape. Any infiltration by non-affiliated forces constitutes a strategic risk.

Thus, it must be liquidated. Not because it did something wrong, but because it did too well, threatening the power center.

This is not reform; this is a reclamation of power. Binance personally intervened, ending governance itself with a "vote to abolish voting."

So impressive it sends chills down the spine!

V. Insights and Accusations: This is a Public Humiliation of Decentralized Faith

What Cakepie lost are numbers and rights; what the entire DeFi community lost is the system and confidence.

12.8 million veCAKE became worthless overnight;
Tens of millions of dollars locked vanished in an instant;
The CKP governance token model collapsed, and the community revenue model went bankrupt;
The sense of value for users participating in DAO governance was completely trampled;
All "collaborative trust" built on protocol governance has become an illusion.

Today it is Cakepie; tomorrow it could be any community project, any DAO, or any locked user on BSC.

As long as the governance system allows whales to "flash lock and vote then withdraw," the fate of the entire decentralized finance will forever be in the hands of that invisible centralized wallet.

This time, there were no code vulnerabilities, no private key leaks, no external attacks.

But it is more dangerous than any hacker attack: because it happens within the rules, under the guise of "governance," while actually executing a "purge."

VI. Questioning and Warning: Those Who Wield the Knife Ultimately Die by the Knife; Liquidators Will Be Liquidated

We must question Binance:

You once claimed that "decentralization is the future," yet now you personally destroy it with concentrated power?

You once said that "Web3 is open, free, and equal," yet now you resort to using the seized hacker wallet to announce: only I can decide who deserves power?

Do you really want to change the financial system, or do you want to become the "absolute center" you once vowed to overthrow? Should we all kneel and accept the rule of the Binance empire?

Is it because Web3 has no regulation that you can ignore the bottom line, trample on protocols, and carry out an on-chain power purge?

Decentralization is not a slogan hanging in a white paper. It is an order, a commitment, and now you have personally torn it apart with violent means.

What I want to say in the end is that history has told us countless times that those who wield the knife ultimately die by the knife; liquidators will be liquidated. They will not die at the hands of enemies but will fall on the day they alter the rules, betray trust, and trample consensus—the knife never left their hands, but ultimately pointed at themselves.