It only took a few minutes for Squid Coin (SQUID) to go from being the world’s hottest virtual currency with the highest growth rate to its currency price reaching almost zero.
After Netflix’s online drama “Squid Game” became popular, a “Squid Coin” named after the brand was born in the virtual currency market. The currency started a surge mode, with a maximum increase of 2,300 times in the past week, and the currency price reached an astonishing US$2,861.8 (approximately RMB 18,309).
However, on November 1, 2021 Eastern Time, the currency suddenly crashed, and the currency price fell directly to almost zero. As of press time, the price of Squid Coin has dropped to approximately 0.02 yuan, with a market value of only 5.87 yuan.
Coin price crash
At 9:35 on November 1, 2021 Eastern Time, after a short-term surge exceeding $2,850, Squid Coin suddenly plummeted to almost zero in just a few minutes. Some investors said: "It started to fall as soon as I bought it. I didn't have time to react and it dropped to just a few cents."
The white paper of the Squid Coin project shows that the project is a virtual currency game earning platform on the BSC public chain, inspired by the popular Korean drama of the same name on Netflix. The currency started pre-sale on October 20 and was sold out within 1 second.
According to media reports, the founder of Squid Coin once stated that the project is Netflix’s official token partner. And established a strategic partnership with the virtual currency platform CoinGecko.
However, in an interview with the media, CoinGecko co-founder Bobby Ong refuted these claims: "Squid Coin does not meet our listing standards, so it will not be listed for trading on Coinchecko. It is most likely a scam."
In the days leading up to the crash, investors complained that they were unable to sell their Squidcoin holdings on Pancakeswap, the only virtual currency platform that trades the currency. Later, the founder of Squid Coin explained that this was because the project deployed an innovative "anti-dumping technology" that restricts people from selling tokens when demand drops.
The founder fled with the money
According to media reports, the issuer of the project has now taken away the money and investors have suffered losses of at least US$2.1 million. Analysis revealed that the project’s founders used the TornadoCash protocol to hide transaction details, thereby transferring funds and cashing out an equivalent value in Binance Coin (BNB). The address is currently marked as "involved in a scam."
On social media, some netizens exclaimed: "I have witnessed another escape story", while others lamented that "cryptocurrencies will probably be like this in the future" and "this currency itself is a squid game."
According to media reports, there have been many flaws in the project. For example, the official website was registered less than a month ago and the total usage time was less than three weeks. There are also many grammatical errors in the description of the project. The founder of Squid Coin does not have a profile on LinkedIn. Personal information, etc.
Previously, the virtual currency data platform CoinMarketCap has issued a warning that the project is obviously inspired by the Netflix web series of the same name, but it does not belong to the official IP. The project is progressing slowly, so investors are advised to make their own due diligence and invest with caution.
The platform also stated that it has received multiple reports that users are unable to sell the token on the exchange Pancakeswap. The white paper of Squid Coin does propose an anti-dumping technology. If certain conditions are not met, people cannot sell, so buying this virtual currency is extremely risky. Many people think that Squid Coin is a botched scam.
Binance investigates SQUID token flash crash
According to news on November 4, 2021, a Binance spokesperson revealed that the platform is investigating the SQUID token flash crash incident and believes that this incident is a scam. Binance is exploring options to help victims, including: blacklisting addresses associated with project parties, deploying blockchain analysis to identify bad actors, and reporting findings to law enforcement officials in the jurisdiction. According to previous news, the Squid Game Token developer was suspected of selling off 70 million Tokens and then ran away, making a profit of US$11.9 million.
It is reported that as the developer behind the project sold off its 70 million Tokens on the market for 22328 BNB ($11.9 million), the price of Squid Game Token fell from $2856 to $0.00079 in a matter of seconds, almost returning to zero.
Just the day before yesterday, the SQUID token surged by 200%
C3 Tip: The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author. This article does not contain investment opinions or recommendations. Every investment and transaction involves risk. There are three realms of investment: seeing, understanding, and holding. Entrepreneurship also has three realms: thinking, doing, and completing. Each level seems to be about the same on paper, but in fact it is much different. Each level can eliminate more than 90% of the people.