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- While ETH Pamped, GALA Got Plucked 🐔
While ETH Pamped, GALA Got Plucked 🐔
Gala got hacked while everyone cheered on ETH, some shady ETH business, and Web3 news
Jonathan Morgan
May 21, 2024
OVERVIEW
While ETH Pamped, GALA Got Plucked 🐔
ala
Some selling pressure, some buying, and a lot of ‘meh’ today. Until we move later into the week, expect a lot of ‘will they, won’t they’ until the SEC makes its decision on the Ethereum ETFs. 📆
In today’s Litepaper, we’re looking at what happened to Gala Games yesterday while everyone else was cheering on ETH FOMO.
Also on deck: a questionable relationship between a couple Ethereum devs and a restaking project. 📰
Before we dive in, here’s today’s crypto market heatmap:
And here’s a look at crypto’s total and altcoin market cap YTD:
GALA
Hacker Returns $23M in ETH to Gala Games 🥷
If crypto were a county fair, then Ethereum was yesterday’s main attraction. It had the whole county out, all the surrounding towns folk getting stupidly drunk, and having a hell of a time. ⌚️
But while everyone was celebrating, a little town's local game shop got robbed. No one noticed because they were too busy being happy and drunk. But then the robber has a change of heart? A guilty conscience? The robber sold all the stuff he stole for cash and then brought all the money back to the store.
The Heist and Its Aftermath
On Monday, an anonymous hacker exploited Gala Games' ($GALA) internal controls, minting 5 billion new GALA tokens and dumping 600 million of them on decentralized exchanges. This slick move scored them nearly 6,000 $ETH tokens. By Tuesday, the hacker, perhaps feeling guilty or just plain scared, transferred all the ETH back to Gala Games. Now that’s a twist no one saw coming.
The exploit sent GALA’s price into a nosedive, dropping as much as 19% as traders freaked out over the flood of new tokens. Which is particularly painful for GALA hodlers when the rest of the market spiked yesterday.
DWF Labs, a key Gala investor, stepped up and bought 28 million GALA tokens to help stabilize the market, showing their loyalty to Gala Games despite the breach.
Where does this go from here? The police, Feds, and DOJ are involved now, so we’ll let you know when any updates occur. 🚀
NEWS
Well That’s Some Shady Shit Right There 💩
Two Ethereum Foundation researchers just found themselves in the hot seat over their advisory roles at EigenLayer’s EigenFoundation. There are some concerns about potential conflicts of interest within Ethereum’s core development team. 🍿
Justin Drake kicked off the transparency parade on X, declaring his new gig with EigenLayer. Two days later, Dankrad Feist jumped on the bandwagon, also revealing his role under the same conditions as Drake. Both are getting hefty token allocations, but they swear their focus is on the protocol’s risks.
Tokens and Transparency
Drake says he’ll reinvest or donate his proceeds to ‘worthy projects’ and pointed out he had mentioned his role over a month ago in response to a community question. Feist is all about decentralization and plans to take a contrarian stance on EigenLayer. "Expect me to be a thorn in their side," he basically says.
Drake’s confession came hot on the heels of a tweet from crypto influencer Jordan Fish, aka Cobie. Cobie, ever the skeptic, called out potential conflicts of interest, right as Vitalik Buterin was singing the praises of open discourse in the community. 🙄
Principal-Agent Problem and Liquid Staking Shenanigans
The big worry is the ‘principal-agent problem,’ where the incentives of the protocol’s operator and the capital provider don’t align. Liquid staking protocols like Lido face similar flak for using staked ETH as collateral on DeFi lending platforms via wrapper tokens. Lido has been bashed for controlling almost a third of staked ETH and rejecting a vote to self-limit.
Drake admitted in his post that he dropped the ball on liquid staking. Now, he sees this as his shot at redemption with restaking.
The crypto crowd isn’t happy. MyEtherWallet creator Taylor Monahan slammed the timing as terrible. Danger, the pseudonymous creator of TodayInDeFi, called it naive to think financial incentives wouldn’t lead to conflicts of interest - followed up with, "You realize we're not five-year-olds, right?"
Get more deets from those fine folks at Protos; damn, they find the good stuff. 📰
WEB3
GameFi And Web3 Updates 🎮️
Immutable's BADMAD ROBOTS: Esports Just Got Real
Immutable ($IMX) just unleashed BADMAD ROBOTS, a team-based, free-to-play multiplayer shooter dropping in Q2 2024. 🕹️
Created by folks behind Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Dying Light 2, this game uses Unreal Engine 5 for killer visuals and gameplay.
Set in dystopian Los Machines, players fight rogue robots in Control Point and Team Deathmatch modes. You can even create custom skins and gear, turning them into NFTs for ownership and trading.
With Immutable Passport and zkEVM tech, expect smooth transactions and easy onboarding. The game's already got backing from top esports orgs like RRQ Networks, SBXG, MoonNight Esport, and Malvinas Gaming.
You can apply for the play-test on their site and connect it to either Steam or EPIC Games. 🏆
Apes Capital: BAYC's Latest Power Move 🌊
Web3 venture capital firm basedVC and NFT behemoth Bored Ape Yacht Club ($BAYC) have teamed up through Apes Plus to launch APES Capital, a new venture capital initiative.
The duo want to ramp up investment opportunities for BAYC members and pump life into blockchain gaming startups with tokenized ownership and community-led investments.
What's APES Capital Anyway?
APES Capital is the new sandbox for Bored Ape and Mutant Ape NFT holders, letting them invest in curated projects using $APE coin. The platform's got all the bells and whistles: announcements, feeds, links, chat, OTC trading, and ticketing systems.
Based in the British Virgin Islands and playing by the book, APES Capital has a legal framework that makes sure everything's legit. Because everyone knows opening up shop in the British Virgin Islands is the definition of legit. 😜
The team, with over 20 years of experience, has already funneled over $40M into 20+ web3 projects like Shrapnel, Heroes of Mavia, and Supraoracles.
How People Are Participating In APES Capital
Hold a BAYC or MAYC NFT that's not listed on any marketplace.
BAYC holders must stake 2,500 $APE tokens with a $5,000 max allocation.
MAYC holders need 500 $APE tokens with a $1,000 cap.
Tokens are staked via Ethereum ($ETH) and locked for 90 days, with a 3-day window to unstake before they auto-restake.
Users on the APES Capital website hit "CONNECT" and sign in with their wallet. Once logged in, they’ll access a dashboard to stake $APE and dive into investment opportunities. 💸
NEWS
Crypto News In Three Sentences 📰
💸 Insider Selling Hits MAGA Token Hard
Lookonchain caught a MAGA insider offloading 79.9 billion tokens for 320 ETH, tanking the price by 3.83%. Now at $7.61, MAGA's value took a hit, but it still flaunts a market cap of $334.8 million. Despite the dump, trading volume remains strong, showing the market’s still buzzing. From CoinEdition.
🧐 Judge Calls Out Craig Wright’s Satoshi Claim as Total BS
A UK judge just called Craig Wright’s bluff, labeling his Satoshi Nakamoto claim as a big fat lie backed by forged documents. Wright’s attempt to sue Bitcoin developers over IP has fallen flat, but he’s not giving up and plans to appeal. Meanwhile, the crypto community is rolling its eyes at yet another Wright drama. The New York Post has more.
🔗 Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum Layer-2s Need to Get Their Act Together Vitalik Buterin is fed up with Ethereum's fragmented Layer-2 networks and is calling for a unified, decentralized protocol to bridge assets seamlessly. He’s pushing for an operator-free, governance-free solution to be baked into wallets, aiming to stop the needless fragmentation. In other words, get the basics right before getting fancy. More at Decrypt.
⚡ Bitcoin Halving Squeezes Miners’ Wallets
Bitcoin’s latest halving has miners feeling the pinch, with transaction fees nosediving from $127 to $1.69. Miners are now scrambling to cut costs, find cheaper energy, or shut down altogether. This shakeup could lead to fewer miners and more centralization fears in the Bitcoin network. Full story at The Defiant.
⚖️ Ripple vs. SEC: The Final Countdown
The Ripple vs. SEC showdown is nearing its finale, with the SEC pushing back against Ripple's request to keep financial docs under wraps. The SEC wants transparency, while Ripple claims disclosure would hurt its competitive edge. Judge Torres’s upcoming decision could make or break crypto regulation and set the stage for future battles. From Coinpaprika.
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