Huobi and Gala Games to Give $50M to Victims of pGala Scheme

Crypto exchange Huobi and Web3 gaming platform Gala Games will distribute up to $50 million worth of cryptocurrencies and software licenses to GALA token holders who lost money in a scheme involving the latter’s utility token last fall, Huobi announced Monday.

Huobi has pledged $25 million worth of cash and user benefits, including 15 million tether (USDT) and $10 million equivalent equity compensation to the plot’s victims. Gala Games will offer its affected users $25 million worth of node licenses. The firms will begin compensating victims within the next week.

The announcement comes five months after a bad actor minted $1 billion worth of pGALA, a wrapped version of GALA that trades on BNB Chain, and offloaded the tokens on decentralized exchanges including PancakeSwap, plunging the price of the GALA 94%. PNetwork, Gala Games’ cross-chain interoperability bridge, said at the time that it coordinated a "white hat attack" on itself to prevent bad actors from absconding with users' money.

User refunds are just one measure Huobi and Gala Games are taking to address the fallout of the pGALA scheme. In March the gaming network filed a lawsuit seeking $27.7 million in damages and compensation from pNetwork.

Huobi said Monday that it has joined the suit to “recover losses, defend its reputation, and the interests of its users.”

Read More: Huobi Exchange Users Furious After GALA Holdings Are Converted to ‘Meme Token’