2021 Squid Game cryptocurrency scam

In November 2021, Squid Coin gained sudden popularity, with its valuation soaring to an astonishing $2,861 per coin. Marketed as a "play-to-earn cryptocurrency," it garnered immense attention and witnessed a meteoric rise in its price, surging by thousands of percentage points.[1]

The creators of Squid Coin presented it as a revolutionary opportunity for investors to participate in an upcoming online game inspired by the Netflix series "Squid Game," in which participants compete in deadly children's games for money.[4]

The mechanics of the scam involved enticing investors with the promise of earning rewards by purchasing Squid Coin tokens. Investors were led to believe that these tokens could be used to participate in the forthcoming Squid Game online platform, where they could earn more tokens through gameplay. These earned tokens were purportedly exchangeable for other cryptocurrencies or national currencies, further fueling the excitement around Squid Coin.[4]

However, as the value of Squid Coin skyrocketed,[9][10] concerns began to surface. Investors who had bought into the cryptocurrency soon discovered that they were unable to sell their tokens. This inability to resell raised significant doubts about the legitimacy of the project and started to sound alarm bells among cryptocurrency experts and enthusiasts.[4][11]

The situation escalated when Squid Coin's value suddenly plummeted to $0, leaving investors with worthless tokens. This abrupt crash, commonly referred to as a "rug pull"[12] in the cryptocurrency world, is an event where the creators of a cryptocurrency rapidly sell their holdings, causing the coin's value to collapse. It became apparent that the developers of Squid Coin had quickly cashed out their holdings, draining liquidity from the exchange.[4][5]

As the scam unraveled, investors were left with substantial losses, while the developers of Squid Coin disappeared from the public eye, taking an estimated $3.38 million with them.[4][13] The project's website, which had previously been active, disappeared along with its social media accounts, further erasing any trace of its existence.[14]

Crypto experts and websites, including CoinMarketCap, had issued warnings about the suspicious nature of Squid Coin.[2] The absence of an option to sell the coin was a significant loophole that signaled trouble. Furthermore, the website contained numerous errors, and social media accounts associated with the project disappeared.[6][1]