Last week a mysterious cryptocurrency inspired by the popular Netflix series, The Squid Game, or Squid Game in English, which was available for purchase on October 20, with the promise that it would be a payment token to participate in an online game, inspired by the famous series.
The game was scheduled to launch in November and its promoters said winners would be rewarded with more Squid tokens, the cryptocurrency’s name.
Due to the popularity of Squid Game all over the world, the tokens were depleted within a single second after they went on sale. The value of the virtual currency grew rapidly, reaching 310,000%, on Sunday night, October 31, and then collapsed on Monday morning, less than two weeks after investors could start buying tokens.
Just before its collapse, the value of the cryptocurrency had soared to $ 2,856. And on Monday morning, its value plummeted to less than half a penny on the dollar., while 6 billion dollars in market value were eliminated, in just 15 minutes, as reported CoinMarketCap, cryptocurrency price tracking website.
The collapse began after users noticed information in the wallet activity suggesting that the alleged developers of the token had finished the project before its online game had been launched.
The creators of the cryptocurrency could have taken as much as 2.1 million dollars after the collapse of the token, hiding the details of the transaction using a protocol called Tornado Cash.
The token’s website and social media accounts have disappeared, while Twitter had already restricted its account due to detection of “unusual or suspicious activity.”
In addition, the whitepaper describing the cryptocurrency Squid, which also disappeared from the network, contained several grammatical and spelling errors, according to users. This detail must have been a reason for suspicion, coupled with the fact that its supposed founders did not have social networks or any kind of public profile.
Before the collapse, CoinMarketCap warned potential buyers of the possibly fraudulent nature of the cryptocurrency. “Do your own research and be careful when trading,” warned the site, which stressed that investors were having trouble selling their tokens.
Experts have warned investors to be careful when considering buying cryptocurrencies based on memes or elements of popular culture.Even if it seems that the currency is growing and doing well in the market, then at any moment your money could disappear.