It's almost too perfect.
SQUID is a cryptocurrency that was inspired by, but not associated with, Netflix's most beloved TV show, Squid Game. It came to existence last week.
It soared to 44,100% in 72 hours according to CoinMarketCap. Then it rose by 7,500 percent to over $2,800 per coins, which was, obviously, too good to be true.
Indeed, what goes up must also come down. CoinMarketCap reports that SQUID had completely imploded at 10 AM Eastern Time, losing 99.9999% of its value, and falling to less than one centimeter of a penny.
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It was basically a get-rich-quick scheme. This is particularly ironic considering that Squid Game is about unwitting, heavily indebted people who risk their lives to win huge cash prizes.
Developers had the last laugh and got away with $2.1 million.
It should also be a warning sign to avoid scams if the new meme coin is too good to true. It wouldn't be the first.
SQUID's developers gathered enthusiasm, recruited people, and pulled the rug from under them. CoinDesk pointed out that there were many red flags in the project white paper. These included spelling and grammatical errors.
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As of today, the official website and Medium accounts for the project are both down.
It is still not clear who was behind this scam or who exactly is to blame. According to CoinMarketCap, administrators of Telegram groups that claimed to have been behind the token sent a message to Squid Game Dev stating that they were depressed by the scammers and are overwhelmed with stress.
The individuals knew exactly what they were doing and made it nearly impossible to quit the game. Users had to accumulate 456 SQUID to actually sell their SQUID. This feature was claimed to be anti-dumping.
Users had to pay thousands more to get 456 SQUID as the token's value increased exponentially.
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It is not the first cryptocurrency scam, and it will certainly not be the last. It may be ironic because it monetized a meme coin that was critical of capitalism before it took the money and ran.
This will be a valuable lesson to me, not to jump in on meme coins like one person who bought them told CoinMarketCap.
READ MORE: How the Squid Game Token Collapsed (CoinMarketCap)
More about meme coins: Elon Musk mocks Dogecoin Crypto Scams
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