In the early hours of May 21, Gala Games CEO Eric Schiermeyer, who goes by the handle Benefactor on X, posted that the platform had had an incident resulting in the unauthorized sale of 600 million GALA tokens. 4.4 billion GALA tokens were effectively burned. According to the post:
The CEO reassured users that Gala is now collaborating with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and a network of international authorities. He apologized for the company’s internal control failures and assured that the team is taking measures to prevent similar issues in the future. Meanwhile, Gala Games believes the perpetrator has been identified.
The crypto gaming project platform will organize a node vote on the issue of daily token distribution, and the community will decide how to proceed.
Gala token fell after hacking
The GALA token plummeted on the news of the fraudulent transfer worth $214 million. The price dropped as low as $0.039 in the aftermath of the purported hack, representing a decline of 19% from the day’s highest value. The token has since recovered most of its losses. It was trading for $0.048 on Monday, May 20, and has stabilized at $0.042 at the time of publication, according to Coinmarketcap.
The remaining 4.4 billion tokens, described in the initial post as being “effectively burned,” are considered destroyed because they can’t be accessed or transferred. The total GALA token supply is 50 billion.
Next steps
According to a Solidity computer language developer who goes by the pseudonym Quit, the address responsible for the hack had admin privileges, which allowed the exploiter to do anything with the smart contract. Quit recommends that crypto platforms ban contracts with admin clearance that can mint tokens arbitrarily.
When a cryptocurrency platform is hacked, the FBI and other institutions typically take a series of steps to investigate the incident. An initial assessment is made to understand the scale and impact of the exploit, including the amount of cryptocurrency stolen and the number of affected users.
The FBI collects and preserves evidence related to the exploit. This may include transaction records, server logs, and communication records. Then, they try to track the movement of stolen cryptocurrency across different wallets and exchanges. Investigators use sophisticated techniques to trace the perpetrator. When they are identified, the FBI may obtain warrants for arrests, conduct searches, and collaborate with foreign governments if they flee abroad.
