Billy H.C. Kwok
A cryptocurrency inspired by Netflix hit “Squid Game” shot up 75,000% as buyers jumped in, but now links to its website and social media are dead, suggesting it was likely a scam.
In recent days, reports have piled up from buyers saying they couldn’t sell their SQUID tokens and cash out their gains in the only available venue, the Pancakeswap service.
CoinMarketCap said in a user notice it had received multiple reports that the websites and socials related to SQUID were no longer working. Insider confirmed trading was no longer possible on Pancakeswap, as also flagged by the crypto data provider.
According to the SQUID project’s whitepaper, the token is a play-to-earn cryptocurrency inspired by the South Korean streaming series where contestants play games that can end in riches or death.
The Squid Game token rocketed in price from around 1 cent on Tuesday to trade around $38 late Sunday, according to CoinMarketCap data. It then stepped up to around $90 early Monday, then spiked to just above $2,861 before falling to $0.003467 at 10 a.m. ET.
“The scam has completed its cycle, and the price has just dropped significantly,” Bobby Ong, co-founder at CoinGecko, told Insider.
“Website and social media accounts being deleted is a very obvious sign that it is a scam.”
People had been sharing their suspicions on Twitter that the coin was a scam. They gave several reasons, such as no one knew who the founders were, they were fake comments in support from Elon Musk and a mention of CoinGecko as a partner that was denied by the company.
“The more people join, the larger the reward pool will be,” the token’s issue document said, according to a BBC report. The project also said it was limiting people from selling the token as an “anti-dumping” measure, the report said.
The Squid Game token providers and Pancakeswap could not be reached for comment.
