An error in the configuration of the cross-chain protocol resulted in more than 2 billion native tokens of the Gala Games platform being issued

​GALA rate plummets by 25,6% after false information about the pNetwork bridge hack

04.11.2022 - 08:15

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4 min

What’s new? The crypto community’s misguided concerns about the pNetwork bridge hack on November 3 caused the utility token of the Gala Games (GALA) gaming blockchain platform to plummet by 25,6%, to $0,0293. At the time, cybersecurity company PeckShield published the address of the wallet on which more than 2 billion GALA was minted. On Twitter, the Gala team assured that the situation was not related to an exploit or the implementation of a fraudulent scheme, adding that user funds were safe. As of November 4, 08:30 UTC, GALA has partially recovered, rising to $0,03439, according to Binance.

What really happened? Gala Games president for blockchain Jason Brink explained that the unusual activity detected on decentralized exchange (DEX) PancakeSwap was made by the pNetwork bridge. The latter was working to drain the liquidity pool to protect a potential vulnerability. Brink also advised against buying wrapped pGALA tokens on PancakeSwap for now.

Representatives of pNetwork reported that the cause of the incident was a “misconfiguration” of the cross-chain protocol. They added that they are working with the Gala team and the exchanges to ensure the necessary pGALA balance and to restore the ability to deposit and withdraw funds.

The developers also responded to PeckShield’s tweet, noting that they “coordinated the white hat attack” to prevent attackers from using pGALA. They stressed that the funds were safe, but also advised against transferring, buying, or selling pGALA on PancakeSwap for now.

The new pGALA tokens will be created to replace the old compromised ones and will be sent to those who owned pGALA before the pool was drained, according to pNetwork. The reimbursement will be done on a snapshot basis on PancakeSwap.

On November 2, the rate of the SKYWARD token collapsed by 95% in a hack of the Skyward Finance platform. Hackers withdrew about 1,1 million NEAR tokens worth $3 million.

The year 2022 has already become a record year for the number of hacks of DeFi projects. On October 12 alone, 4 exploits were committed. The Mango platform lost $100 million worth of MNGO tokens owned by investors, and hackers withdrew another $2,3 million from the project Temple DAO and smaller amounts from the ParaSwap and RabbySwap protocols.

To find out why 2022 became a record year for hacking DeFi projects, check out GetBlock Magazine’s article.

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