There are more and more cryptocurrencies created following memes or memecoins, one of which is the Shiba Inu coin whose value has increased by 960% in a month. Now there is the Squid Game cryptocurrency, which unfortunately ends up being a scam.
This coin is of course launched while taking advantage of the popularity of the Squid Game series that airs on Netflix. But this cryptocurrency has no official relationship with the creators of Squid Game or Netflix.
On October 26th, the $SQUID coin was launched by its creator and within days its value skyrocketed. When it was launched it was only 12 cents, but on Monday, its value had reached USD 2,800.
But, like most other perfunctory memecoins, $SQUID suddenly crashes. Within minutes, the figure plummeted to USD 0.005.
Turns out $SQUID is a form of fraud. The creator does what's known as a 'rug pull', in which the creator drains all of the investors' millions of dollars in funds and disappears suddenly.
The coin site Squid Game and its Medium account disappeared as well. Their Twitter account was also deleted due to 'suspicious activity', as quoted from Cnet, Tuesday (2/11/2021).
When it was first launched, the Squid Game cryptocurrency did look suspicious. His site 'SquidGame.cash' was registered not long before its launch. His social media accounts on Twitter and Telegram restrict replies from users so they can't interact.
But the biggest 'red flag' is CoinMarketCap's warning to investors that they will have trouble cashing out their coins. In other words, once investors buy these coins they cannot easily resell them.
Worse, this is a 'feature' written in the Squid Game whitepaper. This feature is referred to as the 'anti-dump' protocol to ensure healthy growth.
Squid Game tokens were originally intended to be used as exclusive coins for 'play-to-earn' online games, where coin holders would play games like the ones in the series. At the end of the game, the winner will take home the bonus prize.