đ Can you believe itâs already been two years of GalaChain!? đ
Happy Birthday GalaChain!
It was Autumn 2022. We were fresh out of the second Galaverse in Malta and there was A LOT going on around Gala Games. Gala Music was still young and Gala Film was totally new on the scene.Â
As tons of titles in Gala Games barrelled towards launch, it was clear we needed a better solution than Ethereum. Luckily we had a secret weapon about to launch in our pockets⌠GalaChain! Well, not exactly. At the time we were still calling it âProject GYRIâ, but it was evolving fast. It wouldnât be long before GalaChain was released to the world!
The first channels had been set up and tested, but the chain wasnât live and actually supporting apps. That was all about to change though.
We did have some things running on a test chain before the launch. We first announced Project GYRI in early 2022 with the test game Town Crush. Eventually though, we’d head back to our roots and the finished chain became GalaChain
October 31st, 2022. Spider Tanks launch day. More than that, Spider Tanks is set to be the first game fully supported by GalaChain transactions. The asset bridge was opened before the game was launched and blocks started ticking through smoothly with transfers, bridges and token lock allowances.
At 3:58pm PT, it finally happened. Block 1586⌠a create match transaction! GalaChain was fully open and operational!
Behold! The first interactive, public, multi-party transaction on GalaChain!!!
Racing Forward
From those early blocks it wouldnât be long before GalaChain grew bigger faster than we ever guessed it would.
Champions Arena soon leveraged GalaChainâs power. Common Ground World was revamped and redesigned to take full advantage of the chain. Within 6 months, nearly a dozen different apps were running on GalaChain!
It didnât take long from there to see people outside the Gala Games community utilizing GalaChain to interact with the ecosystem. Even before the release of the GalaChain SDK in early 2024, NFT Harbor was already facilitating secure item exchanges on GalaChain. After the release of the SDK, however, things really took off!
GalaChain Into the Future
Today itâs hard to believe that GalaChain only released two years ago. Gala Games, Gala Music and Gala Film are of course still using the chain to create exciting experiences for users, but now weâre seeing development come from all over the world!
An attempt to list all the projects developing on GalaChain here would be folly. We talk about the new and exciting applications of GalaChain all the time, but weâre sometimes even surprised to see all the cool stuff being built on chain!
GalaChain growth is accelerating every day. More and more developers are coming to GalaChain for its capabilities, versatility and ability to scale. The chain has come a long way… and weâre nowhere near finished growing!
Come build with us â the next year is going to be even better!
Decentralization has always been a guiding principle for GalaChain, and we are now prepared to fully embrace this vision with the release of our Decentralization White Paper.
This marks a pivotal moment in GalaChainâs evolutionâa shift from the necessary centralization weâve relied on to scale our Layer 1 blockchain, toward a more decentralized and open ecosystem that invites developers and innovators from all industries to join us.
The Journey to Decentralization
When we embarked on the creation of GalaChain, centralization was essential. It allowed us to build a robust, scalable infrastructure capable of supporting a wide range of external developers from gaming, music and film, while also ensuring the chain could handle immense transaction volumes without compromising performance. However, we have always viewed centralization as a temporary phase.
Now, having achieved the scalability and efficiency needed to support not just Gala Games but a vast array of industries, we are ready to embark on our decentralization roadmap.
With the help of the Hyperledger Fabric upon which the chain was built, GalaChain is moving decisively into the next phase of its development. The Decentralization White Paper lays out a four-phase roadmap that will shift GalaChainâs consensus from Raft to Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT), integrate our vast Founder’s Node network into the core of the blockchain, and implement a GalaChain Improvement Proposal (GIP) system for a greater degree of community-driven governanceâââ.
Why Decentralization Matters
Decentralization is not just about technology; it is about empowerment and freedom. In its fully decentralized form, GalaChain will no longer rely on a centralized authority to validate transactions, ensuring greater security, fault tolerance and global distribution of decision-making power. This shift allows us to create a trustless system, where participants from any region or industry can contribute to the governance and growth of the network without the need for middlemen.
By decentralizing, we are also enabling a future where developers and creators have more control over their projects, from smart contracts to operational governance, and ultimately, the value they create. This creates a developer-first universe on GalaChain, opening doors to countless industries beyond entertainmentâwhether thatâs finance, healthcare, supply chain management or beyond. The possibilities are endlessââ.
The Four-Phase Plan
Our roadmap outlines a deliberate, four-phase plan to decentralize GalaChain:
Phase 1: Migration to Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT), ensuring better security, fault tolerance, and decentralization without sacrificing GalaChainâs transaction throughput of up to 1500 TPS.
Phase 2: Global distribution of nodes and orderers, optimizing the network for speed, security, and fault tolerance through a geographically diverse network of peers.
Phase 3: Integration with Gala Founder’s Nodes, which will take on a more central role in transaction validation and consensus participation.
Phase 4: Implementation of a GalaChain Improvement Proposal (GIP) system to enable decentralized governance, giving stakeholders the power to submit and vote on network changesâ.
What This Means for the Future
For GalaChain, this evolution signifies much more than a technical upgradeâitâs a declaration of our commitment to open innovation. No longer confined by the traditional bounds of centralized brands and interests, GalaChainâs decentralized infrastructure will foster an ecosystem that is truly borderless, inclusive and industry-agnostic.
The decentralized universe of GalaChain is ready to welcome industries and developers from across the globe. As GalaChain evolves, so too does our community, and together we are building the future of decentralized innovation.
Have you heard of OSMI? There are so many projects building on GalaChain that we occasionally have trouble shining a light on all of them, but OSMI is one you definitely want to keep an eye out for!
OSMI is a new AI project built directly on GalaChain. Unlike other AI projects, OSMI is entirely decentralized and will be run through a collection of GPU-based Nodes.
While specific AI is becoming more and more ubiquitous in our world, itâs not necessarily becoming more public, transparent and decentralized. As AI continues to influence our culture and create a new paradigm for how the human race develops, centralization carries a menacing undertone.
OSMI takes the controls of AI out of the few and puts it in the hands of the many. The result will be that OSMI develops and works for people the way they want it to, rather than the way some boss in an ivory tower wants it to.
Why Decentralization Matters
Culture itself is decentralized. A small group of people donât get together and decide how humanityâs collective consciousness and ideas change over time â thatâs all about as decentralized as it gets. Individual attitudes progress and change by the infinitely complex interchange of ideas.
AI, however, is often incredibly centralized. An individual or a small group is determining the parameters, the training data, the goals, etc. This kind of centralization may give normal people some advantage, but the individuals that created it are really controlling where it goes and how it develops.
Now that AI is working its way more and more into daily life, AIâs development will affect the evolution of culture. Centralized AI homogeneity then potentially threatens to partially centralize the evolution of our culture.
The power this gives an irresponsible small group is terrifying, but even more terrifying is the cultural stagnation this could lead to overall. If the same AI models created and curated by just a few people are pushing us all to the same way of thinking, how will diversity of thought continue to thrive and lead to innovation?
The OSMI Movement
OSMI was created for a better way to navigate AI. Just as we propel culture collectively faster than any small group or individual could, we could work together to make AI a better tool that doesnât fall victim to homogeneity and profit motives.
Decentralization isnât just a gimmick of OSMI⌠itâs the entire point. The OSMI team feels that this is THE sustainable way forward with AI and that this is the beginning a very important shift in society towards better AI tools.
Keep an eye out for Node sale announcements coming up and to learn more about the $OSMI token. Weâre incredibly excited to learn more about this project and see what the OSMI team can do to revolutionize how we interact with AI!
It wasnât too terribly long ago that GalaChainâs token footprint was just a few ERC-20s. With the breakout of public development on GalaChain, however, tons of new fungible tokens have joined the Gala Ecosystem!
With so many tokens, it can be easy to get turned around. We thought it was high time that we run through all of the fungible tokens on GalaChain’s platforms and let you know exactly how you can get your hands on some of those rewards!
Please note that we have missed many tokens here. Weâve left out tokens from the Project Token Creation Tool for the moment, preferring to focus today on the tokens that are on boarded onto the GalaChain platform itself. Weâve also left out any tokens without a clear path to rewards.
In the future, weâll probably do another version of this list with all the off-platform tokens that offer a great chance for rewards! But, thatâs another day. For now, enjoy this full guide of where to grab all those great token rewards in the GalaChain Ecosystem!
Legends Reborn
$TOLK: Leaderboard placement at the end of each season awards $TOLK, proportionate to the amount spent in the game during the seasonâs duration.
$ETIME: Players receive $ETIME daily based on their daily prize points from the previous day, as well as at the end of the season based on their placement in Battle Power, Arena Rank and Conquest Rank. Rewards are proportional to the amount spent in the game, with 60% going towards season rewards and 40% going towards daily rewards
$STAMINA: Each season players may create a limited amount of $STAMINA tokens using 100 of their own stamina in game. These may then be transferred or used to receive 100 stamina through the Gala Games Store.
$SOIL is awarded to players for a wide variety of activities in Common Ground World. Completing daily challenges and racking up Town Points using reward-eligible NFTs, logging in during the day while operating a Common Ground World Node to minimum uptime, or placing in a competition leaderboard will all get you some $SOIL allocation.
NOTE: $DIRT is the off-chain version of $SOIL, and will soon be migrated to $SOIL.
$GALA is awarded every arena season based on each playerâs acquired Victory Points. Victory Points are acquired from each victory, based on the number of NFT Champions used in the battle.
$GALA is awarded daily to each player based on the Legacy Tickets that they hold from the previous dayâs competitions. The amount of $GALA rewards are proportional to the amount spent in the game during the past day.
$GALA is awarded each day proportional to the amount players have spent on the game. This reward is allocated to all players based on the Stardust that they hold, with half their Stardust being burned each day and replaced with the appropriate amount of $GALA allowance.
$GALA is awarded each week through the Gala Leaderboard based on a playerâs final position. Points are acquired by participating in the normal weekly event while using an NFT Hero on your team, with more points for using more than one NFT Hero.
$VGX is distributed based on each playerâs V Points, which are achieved by completing tasks in the season pass. Note that $VGX rewards are delivered through a userâs RFLXT account, not the Gala platform.
In Last Expedition, only one team makes it out alive. That means the winning team gets to harvest the resources while the rest are stranded on the planet with theirs. There are four fungible tokens that a user can acquire playing Last Expedition.
$LECHAR is awarded each time a player gains enough XP for a new rank. These can be used to unlock new characters in Last Expedition
Each of the following is a tokenized version of one of the resources you can find on Aura. These are occasionally used to buy new skins and other features that are intermittently available on the Gala Store:
$LEMIN, or Last Expedition Minerals,are awarded based on the amount of minerals you manage to get off the planet!
$LECC, or Last Expedition Core Chunks, are awarded based on the amount of core chunks you manage to get off the planet!
$LEFC , or Last Expedition Fragment Chunks, are awarded based on the amount of fragment chunks you manage to get off the planet!
Founderâs Nodes are now able to be fully tokenized and transferred! Tons of listings are popping up all over NFT Harbor, which was ready to facilitate secure transfers right away!
You can easily purchase or sell Founderâs Node NFTs on NFT Harbor and today weâd like to walk you through exactly how to navigate that process!
Buying a Founderâs Node NFT
Buying NFTs on NFT Harbor is easy! Simply go to the listings on the front page of https://marketplace.nftharbor.io/ and select âNodeâ from the collection drop down on the left side.
Once you select this, it will display all available Nodes across the site.
Youâll only see one listing for Founderâs Nodes⌠if you click on it, however, itâll take you to all the individual listings of Founderâs Nodes.
From here you can select one that youâd like to buy or bid on.
Note: NFT Harbor is an escrow site, so once you select a Node to buy, itâll ask you to send the cost of the Node to an escrow wallet. The seller will simultaneously send the NFT to the escrow wallet. Once the escrow has both items in it, it will facilitate the exchange and send NFT and proceeds to each person!
Note that some listings request a deposit. These are fees the buyer must immediately pay to the escrow to lock in a deal. After this, the deal proceeds as normal with the deposit being applied to the cost of the Node. This measure was put in place to avoid fake bids and purchases that then never sent the cost to the escrow account.
Ok so Founders nft's will be able to be traded on NFTHarbor…But what if the buyer doesn't pay? Seller would be left in the cold…Well no! Seller will have the possibility to request 10% of the total price first to the buyer. It will be transferred to NFTHarbor. If buyer⌠pic.twitter.com/mctpR58ePU
To sell your Founderâs Node, first click âCreateâ in the top menu. This will take you to a screen that allows you to choose your NFT to sell. Note that your Node must be tokenized properly before it will show up on this screen.
Set the expiration date and the allowed time for a deal to be finalized, then find âNodeâ in the collection drop down list. Once youâve selected âNodeâ, youâll see your Founderâs Node pop up as an available NFT from that collection. Select it.
Once youâve selected your Node, you can set your pricing. You can choose any supported currency and whether or not you accept bids. If you are accepting bids, choose the floor price of any bids made.
Remember to set a deposit amount if you want to ensure that any bids or offers you have coming in are legitimate! While NFT Harbor operates using an escrow to limit the chance of scams, buyers or sellers can simply not send their payment to the escrow if there isnât a deposit amount. This will result in their accountâs star rating being reduced and any submitted payment or NFTs returned to the rightful owner, but it can also be incredibly inconvenient and temporarily remove their listing from the site.
Double check your pricing, but then click the âCreate Tradeâ button below and you are done! Your Founderâs Node is now listed for sale!
GalaSwap is leveling up, undergoing a transformative upgrade and evolving into a comprehensive bridging and account management platform within the GalaChain ecosystem.
As part of the ongoing “GalaConnect” upgrade, we’re now thrilled to unveil new features that expand the capabilities of GalaSwap far beyond simple GalaChain token swaps. This update introduces direct bridging functionality between GalaChain and Ethereum, with an emphasis on user experience and flexibility. With the new GalaSwap, users can now move assets seamlessly across networks, interact with both their GalaChain and Ethereum wallets, and enjoy enhanced bridging status trackingâall from a single platform.
New Features in the Latest GalaSwap Update
1. Cross-Chain Bridging with Dynamic Fees
GalaChain to Ethereum Bridging: Users can now bridge their assets from GalaChain to Ethereum, enjoying dynamic bridge fees that adjust based on network conditions.
Ethereum to GalaChain Bridging: Bringing assets back from Ethereum to GalaChain is straightforward and transparent, ensuring users can manage their portfolios with ease.
2. Status Monitoring and Block Explorer Integration
Once a bridging transaction is initiated, users can track the status of their transactions through a dedicated status page. This page offers direct links to both Ethereum and GalaChain block explorers, enabling users to verify their transactions independently.
3. Accountless and Account-Based Bridging Support
Accountless Bridging: Users without a Gala ecosystem account can use their existing Ethereum wallet to bridge assets. The system will intelligently default the recipient address to the corresponding wallet on the other blockchain, simplifying the process.
Account-Based Bridging: For those with a Gala account, additional options become available. When bridging from Ethereum to GalaChain, users can connect their Ethereum wallet to access the GalaConnect suite, making the process even more streamlined.
4. Enhanced Bridging Costs and Dynamic Pricing
As part of this upgrade, the bridging fee structure will be revised, and users can expect a temporary surge to 3.5x the existing rate (of which ~70% is burned from supply). This adjustment reflects the dynamic nature of cross-chain transactions and supports the growing infrastructure of GalaSwap as it scales to meet increased demand.
A Unified Platform for All Your GalaChain Interactions
This major update marks a pivotal step in our journey to enhance GalaChainâs functionality. With the introduction of direct bridging capabilities, GalaSwap is being reimagined as GalaConnectâa robust platform for managing and transacting GalaChain assets without the need for a centralized Gala account.
Users will benefit from the flexibility of using both traditional account-based interactions and new accountless connections through Ethereum wallets, broadening the possibilities for web3 developers and casual users alike. Whether you’re looking to bridge, manage or simply view your assets, GalaSwap will offer the tools to do so efficiently.
Why This Matters for the Gala Ecosystem
The latest update to GalaSwap is a significant leap toward decentralization of the Gala ecosystem. By providing seamless bridging and accountless wallet integration, we are removing barriers for both existing and new users, making it easier than ever to engage with GalaChain.
As we continue to evolve, the GalaSwap platform will serve as the central hub for all interactions within the Gala ecosystem, laying the foundation for future growth and innovation. In the near future, GalaSwap will also be renamed GalaConnect in one of the key moves of this multi-phase upgrade.
This change also aligns with our broader strategy of leveraging GalaChainâs capabilities to support industries beyond entertainment and gaming, making it a powerful tool for developers across sectors.
Get Ready to Experience GalaSwapâs Transformation
As we prepare to roll out these new features, we invite all users to explore the enhanced GalaSwap platform and take advantage of its new capabilities. This upgrade is a testament to our commitment to building a decentralized, user-friendly ecosystem where everyone can thrive.
Join the Discord community and follow us on social media and stay tuned for more updates as we continue to build the future of decentralized technology together.
