Hack

Gala Games CEO Eric Schiermeyer has confirmed that a "security incident" led to the unauthorized sale of 600 million GALA tokens, worth approximately $23 million. The breach, which Schiermeyer attributed to "messed up" internal controls, has raised significant concerns within the blockchain gaming community.
Incident Overview
On May 20, at 7:32 pm UTC, blockchain observers reported the minting of 5 billion GALA tokens, valued at around $200 million at the time. The compromised wallet was selling the tokens in batches, leading to a sharp drop in GALA's price. The token hit a 24-hour low of $0.038, a 20% decrease from its daily high, before recovering slightly to $0.041, according to CoinGecko.
“We had an incident that resulted in the unauthorized sale of 600 million GALA tokens and the effective burn of 4.4 billion tokens,” Schiermeyer wrote in a May 20 post on X (formerly Twitter). He admitted, “We messed up our internal controls. This shouldn’t have happened, and we are taking steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
Response and Mitigation
Gala Games quickly identified the compromise and revoked unauthorized access to the GALA contract. Schiermeyer assured users that the Ethereum contract was secure and had not been compromised. The company believes it has identified the person responsible and is collaborating with the FBI, the U.S. Justice Department, and international authorities to address the incident.
In a follow-up post on X, Gala Games announced that the security breach had been contained and the affected wallet frozen. However, details about the perpetrator and the method of access to the GALA contract remain undisclosed.
Ongoing Legal Disputes
This security incident occurs amid ongoing legal battles between Schiermeyer and Gala Games co-founder Wright Thurston. Both have filed lawsuits against each other, with Thurston accusing Schiermeyer of squandering millions in company assets, while Schiermeyer alleges that Thurston stole $130 million worth of GALA tokens.
Gala Games did not respond to requests for additional comments.
The incident underscores the critical need for robust internal controls and security measures in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries, as companies continue to navigate complex technological and legal landscapes.
$GALA #GALA #GalaGames #hack

Notice:
,,The information and views presented in this article are intended solely for educational purposes and should not be taken as investment advice in any situation. The content of these pages should not be regarded as financial, investment, or any other form of advice. We caution that investing in cryptocurrencies can be risky and may lead to financial losses.“

On February 21, 2025. Bybit Exchange, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, experienced a significant security breach resulting in the unauthorized transfer of approximately $1.46 billion worth of assets. The incident involved the compromise of Bybit's Ethereum (ETH) cold wallet, leading to the loss of 401,346 ETH (approximately $1.1 billion) and various staked Ether (stETH) tokens. The perpetrator has been liquidating these assets on decentralized exchanges.
Bybit's CEO, Ben Zhou, confirmed the breach, explaining that a planned transfer was manipulated, allowing the attacker to gain control over the specific ETH cold wallet. Zhou assured users that all other cold wallets remain secure and that withdrawals are functioning normally.
This event marks one of the largest cryptocurrency hacks to date, surpassing previous incidents such as the Mt. Gox hack ($470 million), the CoinCheck hack in 2018 ($530 million), and the Ronin Bridge exploit ($650 million).
In response to the breach, major cryptocurrencies experienced price declines. Ethereum's price fell nearly 3% to approximately $2,727, while Bitcoin dipped by nearly 1% to around $98,091.
Users are advised to monitor their accounts closely and exercise caution with their assets during this period.
#BybitSecurityBreach #CryptocurrencyWealth #cryptouniverseofficial #Hack #bybit

In 2023, financial assets were removed from a cryptocurrency "whale" due to a phishing attack, where the victim authorized transactions allowing the attacker to access their financial resources.
The joint account involved in the September 2023 phishing incident transferred $10 million worth of Ether to the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash.

On March 21, blockchain security firm CertiK identified an account involved in the hack for $24 million, which sent 3,700 ETH to Tornado Cash. These funds were taken from the cryptocurrency whale during the phishing incident on September 6, 2023.
At that time, an investor lost $24 million in staked ETH through the Rocket Pool liquidity staking service. The attack occurred in two phases: the first removed 9,579 stETH, while the second took away 4,851 rETH from the crypto whale.
The Scam Sniffer project, dedicated to fraud detection, stated that the victim authorized an "Increase Allowance" transaction, enabling the hacker to approve tokens for their own use. Using smart contracts, this functionality allows third parties to spend ERC-20 tokens owned by others with their consent.
The topic of token approvals sparked much discussion in the crypto community, with some warning of the risks associated with potentially deploying malicious smart contracts for fraudulent purposes.
Blockchain security firm PeckShield recorded that the attacker converted assets into 13,785 ETH and 1.64 million Dai. Some of these DAI were transferred to the FixedFload exchange, while the rest of the stolen funds were moved to other wallets.
Phishing attacks remain a significant problem for the crypto sector. A report from the Scam Sniffer project showed that nearly $47 million was lost in February due to phishing-related scams. 
The report emphasized that 78% of these thefts occurred on the Ethereum network, with ERC-20 tokens accounting for 86% of all stolen funds. 
Recent losses caused by token approvals have also raised concerns among cryptocurrency users. On March 20, an old contract previously used by the Dolomite exchange was exploited to drain $1.8 million from users.
The exploitation affected users who had given consent to the contract. As a result, Dolomite developers urged users to revoke all consents granted to the old contract address.
Although some attempts to defraud cryptocurrencies result in the loss of millions, there are cases where fraudulent efforts are quickly detected and thwarted. For example, on March 20, the Layerswap team managed to prevent further damages after their website was compromised by an attack, thanks to the quick response from the domain provider.
However, hackers were still able to siphon off assets worth $100,000 from approximately 50 users. Layerswap announced that they would refund the lost funds to affected users and offer additional compensation for the inconvenience caused.
These incidents highlight the persistent risk of phishing attacks and the need for constant vigilance in the crypto world. The abuse of token approval functions and smart contracts underscores the need for further education and caution among cryptocurrency users to prevent unnecessary losses.
With the increasing number of sophisticated attacks, it is important for cryptocurrency users to be vigilant and thoroughly verify all transactions and contract approvals. The community and security firms must collaborate to develop better tools and procedures to protect against phishing attacks and other fraudulent activities, ensuring a safer environment for all cryptocurrency users.
#crypto #scam #hack  

Notice:
,,The information and views presented in this article are intended solely for educational purposes and should not be taken as investment advice in any situation. The content of these pages should not be regarded as financial, investment, or any other form of advice. We caution that investing in cryptocurrencies can be risky and may lead to financial losses.“