Gala Games
Summary
Gala Games is a blockchain gaming platform founded in 2019 by Eric Schiermeyer (co-founder of Zynga) and Wright Thurston, issuing the GALA utility and governance token. The company has been beset by a high-profile inter-founder legal dispute alleging $130 million in token theft, a May 2024 smart contract exploit in which 5 billion GALA tokens worth approximately $200–240 million were minted by a compromised admin wallet, and co-founder Wright Thurston's prior SEC lawsuit over an unrelated $18 million unregistered securities offering. These compounding governance failures, security incidents, and legal controversies place the platform among the more heavily scrutinized projects in the blockchain gaming sector.
Connected Entities
1 entities- + 4 more
Timeline(14 events)
2019-01-01
Gala Games (Blockchain Game Partners, Inc.) founded by Eric Schiermeyer, Wright Thurston, and Michael McCarthy.
2020-09-01
GALA token launches, distributed via Founder's Node rewards rather than an ICO.
2021-02-01
Alleged theft: Thurston allegedly moves 8.6 billion GALA tokens from company wallet into 43 separate wallets, per Schiermeyer's 2023 lawsuit.
2021-11-26
GALA token reaches all-time high of approximately $0.82, giving the project a multi-billion dollar market capitalization.
2022-07-01
GALA daily emissions exceed 8.5 million tokens; critics raise concerns about inflationary supply pressure.
2022-09-01
Alleged sale activity begins: Thurston allegedly begins selling GALA through centralized exchanges across a complex transaction chain, per Schiermeyer's lawsuit.
2023-03-01
SEC files suit against Wright Thurston and Green United LLC alleging fraudulent sale of $18 million in unregistered securities related to the GREEN token.
2023-05-15
Gala Games burns approximately 20.9 billion GALA tokens (estimated $660 million) in a public supply-reduction event.
2023-08-31
Eric Schiermeyer files shareholder-derivative lawsuit against Wright Thurston in Utah District Court, alleging $130 million in GALA token theft. Thurston simultaneously files counter-lawsuit against Schiermeyer alleging corporate waste and seeking $750 million in damages.
2024-05-17
President of Blockchain and several other Gala Games team members depart the organization, three days before the subsequent exploit.
2024-05-20
A compromised admin minter wallet on the Ethereum GALA contract is used to mint 5 billion GALA tokens worth approximately $200–240 million. Approximately 599 million tokens are sold via Uniswap for roughly 5,913 ETH before the attacker's address is blocklisted. GALA price falls 15–20% within an hour.
2024-05-22
The exploiter returns approximately 5,912 ETH to Gala Games. The company refers the matter to the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice.
2024-05-31
Gala Games publishes official incident report confirming all 5 billion unauthorized tokens burned via governance vote; company details post-incident security upgrades including Okta SAML and AWS permission redesign.
2026-04-30
Gala Games announces a tokenomics model upgrade introducing protocol-level fee burning and ecosystem distribution on GalaChain.
Decision Log
- hash: AVX41m6Rnzywghzrw74JAbRAAh81DBNmw2as1ZyBQFP3
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 5/30/2026, 6:32:25 PM
last updated: 5/30/2026, 6:32:31 PM
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