ProtonFinance Honeypot

Reported loss Not disclosed
BNB Chain
Honeypot

What happened

ProtonFinance (Proton) is a BNB Smart Chain token at 0x3c6c9a86…340527 whose transfer logic carries a hidden destination block. The contract stores an address called newun, and both transfer and transferFrom revert with "please wait" when the recipient equals it. transferFrom fills newun with the recipient of the first call it sees, so if that recipient is the DEX pair, every later router sell, which pulls tokens with transferFrom into the pair, reverts, while buys do not touch the check.

De.Fi's REKT database lists the token as an Exit Scam/Honeypot and says the owner could disable the transfer function, which restricted users in selling their tokens.

How it happened

  1. The constructor mints the whole supply to the deployer, who is also the Owned owner: balances[owner] = _totalSupply;.
  2. transferFrom has a first-call rule: if(from != address(0) && newun == address(0)) newun = to;. Nothing restricts who triggers it, so the first recipient of any transferFrom becomes newun. A router moving tokens into a liquidity pool would make the pool that recipient; the code alone does not show which address newun holds.
  3. Once newun is set, transferFrom takes the other branch: else require(to != newun, "please wait");. transfer has the same check: require(to != newun, "please wait");. A revert undoes the whole call, so no balance changes.
  4. If newun is the pair, a holder's sell through a router (transferFrom(holder, pair, amount)) always reverts. A buy sends tokens out of the pair with to set to the buyer, which passes the check.
  5. The owner can move the block with transfernewun(address _newun), which is onlyOwner. Pointing newun at an unused address lifts it. Setting it to the zero address lets the next transferFrom capture a new recipient. Owned has no renounceOwnership, only transferOwnership and acceptOwnership.

Protocol details

Classification Token
Protocol Type Exit Scam/Honeypot
Affected asset / contract Proton

Evidence

Same attack technique

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