Gala Games suffers $200m security incident over ‘internal controls’

As a crypto investor with some experience under my belt, I’ve learned that the blockchain world is not without its risks. And this latest incident with Gala Games serves as a painful reminder of that fact. I was disappointed but not entirely surprised to hear about the security breach and the loss of over 4 billion GALA tokens.


It appears that the blockchain gaming platform, Gala Games, has experienced a potential security incident leading to the misappropriation of over 4 billion GALA tokens.

Eric Schiermeyer, a co-founder of blockchain gaming startup Gala Games which is associated with Zynga, announced on May 21 via a Reddit post that the company experienced a significant security breach resulting in the loss of several million dollars’ worth of GALA tokens.

The incident regarding the compromised $GALA token has been brought under control. The affected digital wallet has been secured as a precaution. This occurrence was an isolated case, the root cause has been identified and fixed, and we are collaborating with law enforcement to uncover the culprits behind this intrusion.— Gala Games (@GoGalaGames) May 21, 2024

Based on the information provided in the announcement, the affected wallet has been rendered inaccessible. The reason behind this security incident and the resulting freeze is yet to be clarified.

“We’ve identified an individual occurrence where a security issue arose. The underlying cause has been dealt with, and we’re collaborating extensively with law enforcement to uncover the identities of those involved in the intrusion.” – Gala Games.

Hello everyone, I’ve always kept quiet about other projects experiencing security breaches, but unfortunately, we’ve fallen victim to an incident ourselves. Regrettably, unauthorized individuals managed to sell 600 million, or approximately $21 million worth, of our $GALA tokens. As a result, 4.4 billion tokens were permanently destroyed.— benefactor (@Benefactor0101) May 20, 2024

On May 21 in a different post on the Gala Games platform, CEO Eric Schiermeyer disclosed that an unidentified person produced approximately 5 billion GALA tokens valued at around $200 million on May 20. This individual managed to offload roughly 600 million GALA tokens. Schiermeyer allayed concerns, stating that the Gala Games team swiftly acted within 45 minutes and terminated unauthorized access to the GALA contract.

“We made a mistake in our internal procedures, which allowed this incident to occur. This was preventable, and we are taking immediate action to prevent such occurrences in the future. Regarding our daily distribution process, there is a matter that requires attention. The community will be holding a vote on how to address this issue as per our usual protocol.”

Eric Schiermeyer

As a researcher observing the crypto market, I’ve noticed a significant drop in the value of GALA tokens. The price fell abruptly from around $0.056 to a low of $0.037, representing a loss of approximately 20%. However, it then bounced back slightly, recovering some ground and reaching a price of $0.042.

Established in 2018 by Eric Schiermeyer, Wright Thurston, and Michael McCarthy, Gala Games is a gaming platform that runs on blockchain technology with a focus on putting power back into the hands of gamers. To date, the company has secured a total investment of $5 million from various investors such as Block Wolves, Broslyn Capital, CaptureAlpha, DWF Labs, and Ignite Group, as indicated by PitchBook’s data.

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2024-05-21 10:00