Gala Games, a web3 gaming company, reportedly experienced a significant exploit on Monday, where an unknown party minted 5 billion tokens valued at approximately $206 million, according to Etherscan.
Following the incident, the value of GALA, the platform’s native token, fell nearly 15%, dropping from $0.0467 at 3:00 p.m. ET (19:00 UTC) to $0.0397 by around 5:25 p.m. ET (21:25 UTC) on May 20, as per data from The Block. Overall, GALA’s price decreased by 5.77% over the past day, though the token retains a market capitalization of $1.7 billion with a circulating supply of 40.6 billion.
Previous Security Breach at Gala Games
In early 2021, Gala Games was also compromised, losing $130 million when about 8.65 billion GALA tokens were stolen. Co-founder Eric Schiermeyer accused fellow co-founder Wright Thurston of involvement in the hack, claiming Thurston misrepresented his intentions by stating he was safeguarding the tokens for Gala Games. However, according to an August 2023 lawsuit, Thurston allegedly began moving and selling the stolen tokens, managing to conceal or exchange approximately $130 million worth before Gala Games intervened. Schiermeyer further alleged that Thurston benefited significantly from his deceptive actions.
In response, Thurston filed a lawsuit against Schiermeyer, accusing him of using company funds for personal expenses, as previously reported by The Block.
Additionally, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Thurston and another entity in March 2023 for allegedly selling $18 million in unregistered securities under the guise of GREEN, a cryptocurrency linked to a global decentralised power grid.
Gala Games was co-founded by Schiermeyer, also a co-founder of mobile gaming firm Zynga, along with Michael McCarthy, who previously served as Zynga’s creative director.
