GalaChain is a highly customized Layer 1 blockchain version of Hyperledger Fabric developed by Gala that enables near-instantaneous transactions. It is a major part of the Gala ecosystem and facilitates various components without delays or high costs. The $GALA token is the primary token on GalaChain and is used for gas fees and rewards. ^[1]

Overview

Galachain is a Layer 1 blockchain developed by Gala Games to support the performance and scalability needs of modern Web2-style gaming while incorporating Web3 features like asset ownership and rewards. It powers the Gala ecosystem—including Gala Music and Gala Film—through a decentralized network of Founder’s Nodes and uses the GALA token for gas fees and node rewards. Galachain also enables the creation of specialized tokens and node networks for games and media, and its infrastructure is designed to extend beyond gaming into other industries. ^{[7] [8]}

History

Gala was founded in 2018 by Eric Schiermeyer, a co-founder of Zynga, and a team behind popular social games like Farmville 2, Words with Friends, and Zynga Poker. Drawing from its roots in social gaming, Gala launched Common Ground World as a blockchain-based evolution of the farm simulation genre. Over time, Gala established partnerships with major entertainment and gaming entities such as DreamWorks Animation, AMC Networks, NBCUniversal, and notable creators like Peter Molyneux and Will Wright. It also collaborated with music artists including Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and Kings of Leon. GalaChain was developed to support the company's growing Web3 ecosystem, reflecting Gala’s shift from traditional social gaming to blockchain-powered entertainment. ^[8]

Features

Hyperledger Fabric (HLF)

GalaChain is built on Hyperledger Fabric (HLF), a modular blockchain framework developed by the Linux Foundation in 2015. HLF supports a customizable, private, and permissioned architecture, making it suitable for enterprise use cases. This foundation allows GalaChain to tailor its infrastructure to the needs of its entertainment ecosystem. Unlike public chains like Ethereum or Bitcoin, GalaChain uses deterministic consensus through an ordering service that ensures block finality and prevents ledger forks. Separating chaincode execution from ordering improves scalability and avoids bottlenecks, offering a stable and efficient environment for Gala’s applications and node network. ^{[9] [10]}

Founder’s Nodes

Founder’s Nodes form a key part of GalaChain’s structure, limited to 50,000 operators who enable true ownership of assets and content by maintaining a decentralized infrastructure. These nodes handle complex decentralized tasks specific to projects, and GALA tokens are exclusively distributed daily through them. In addition to Founder’s Nodes, the Gala Ecosystem includes individual nodes with specialized functions, supporting custom workloads and offering an alternative monetization method that avoids traditional ICO complexities and lowers central costs. Built by experts behind major gaming networks, these nodes provide scalability and experience, allowing projects to expand their networks without relying on data centers or cloud services. The role of Founder’s Nodes is set to grow, with planned responsibilities including bridge transactions and chain security, reinforcing the ecosystem’s flexibility and strength for future demands. ^{[7] [8]}

Allowance

GalaChain Allowance is a system that enables users to receive rewards from node operations or other mechanisms and convert them into on-chain tokens at their discretion. Once granted, the allowance reserves tokens for the user, who can choose when to transfer them to their GalaChain wallet. This approach provides flexibility and eliminates immediate costs, allowing users to manage their rewards and in-game assets on their terms. It replaced the earlier Treasure Chest system used when Gala minted tokens on Ethereum, giving users more control over the timing and potential tax implications of minting. ^{[2] [8]}

GalaSwap

GalaSwap is a platform on GalaChain for direct token swapping. Currently, it supports swaps for more than nine tokens within the Gala and Ethereum ecosystems, with plans to include more tokens later. The platform aims to provide trading opportunities across the expanding Gala Ecosystem and is designed to accommodate all future currencies developed on GalaChain, ensuring a continuously evolving trading ecosystem.

The initial version of GalaSwap prioritizes basic functions, with more advanced features such as liquidity pools or slippage not yet available. However, all transactions are peer-to-peer, with the chain as the central order book. Users can search for offers between $GALA and supported tokens, and once found, they can proceed to fill out the order. If a desired swap is unavailable, users can create their own swap and wait for another user to fill it.

All swaps on GalaSwap involve $GALA. Therefore, if a user wishes to trade a token like $ETIME for $MTRM, they must first swap their $ETIME into $GALA before trading it for $MTRM. Gas costs for transactions on GalaSwap are set at 1 $GALA per participant, meaning 1 $GALA is required to list a swap and another 1 $GALA to initiate the other side of a listed swap. ^{[3] [4]}

Ecosystem

Gala Games

Gala Games serves as the foundation of the GalaChain ecosystem, featuring 17 games across platforms such as browser, mobile (Android and iOS), Windows, and Mac. Of these, 12 games—including Champions Arena, Legacy, and The Walking Dead: Empires—were integrated into GalaChain to utilize its infrastructure for enhanced performance, reduced transaction costs, and improved security. Recently, the portfolio expanded with Voyager: Ascension, the first third-party published game to join the Gala platform. This integration was crucial in Gala Games’ continued growth and platform development. ^[11]

Gala Music

Gala Music is a decentralized music streaming platform built on GalaChain and IPFS. It allows artists to convert their songs into NFTs and sell them directly, bypassing traditional producer fees. Digital signatures for songs are recorded on GalaChain as NFTs. The platform’s native token, MUSIC, rewards over 20,000 Jukebox Node operators, who support the ecosystem alongside artists, track owners, and listeners, making Gala Music one of the largest decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN). ^[12]

Gala Film

Gala Film operated as a decentralized platform that allowed filmmakers to tokenize their works as NFTs, promoting transparency, security, and improved monetization while giving creators greater control over their intellectual property. Filmmakers engaged directly with audiences by offering exclusive content and merchandise. Theater Nodes formed the core of Gala’s decentralized film ecosystem; users owning a license and running a Theater Node contributed computing power to host cinematic content and received daily rewards. Users could also own Moments—unique scenes from films or series—that generated rewards each time the content was viewed, with varying rarity levels to enhance the experience for creators and viewers. ^[13]

GALA

The GALA token functioned as the foundational utility token within the Gala ecosystem. It facilitated secure and seamless payments and incentivization among network participants. GALA was the primary reward for Founder’s Nodes, which accrued tokens daily based on uptime benchmarks to support network workloads. These nodes also received distributions of other ecosystem tokens, and a small percentage of NFTs were minted on GalaChain. The token’s security was reinforced through a Gnosis multisig safe, ensuring that no single team member had unilateral access and promoting collective oversight.

The total supply of GALA was capped at 50 billion tokens, with a daily emission rate dynamically adjusted according to the circulating supply. This supply decreased when GALA was burned as fees or spent within the ecosystem. GALA was launched without pre-minting or initial allocation; all tokens were earned exclusively through Founder’s Node operation, with 100% of GALA allocated to these nodes within the Gala ecosystem. ^{[5] [8]}

Partnerships

• KoinBX
• Alchemy Pay
• Banxa
• AEON
• Bitrue