Green light, Red light: the rapid rise and fall of the SQUID token

The current South Korean Netflix sensation, Squid Game, is now creating waves in cryptocurrency as well.

The show has its own cryptocurrency, known as SQUID, which has astronomically rewarded investors with an extremely strong increase of up to 30,000% in just a few hours.

Green light: Astronomical rise

From a value of $0.01236 on October 26 to a peak (as of writing) of $4.15 on October 29, the digital currency jumped 34,285 percent in less than 100 hours. As of October 29, it had a market capitalization of $335 million. According to data from coinmarketcap.com, a $1,000 investment in this currency has grown to Rs 3,43,850 in less than four days.

However, experts have issued a warning about the token. “We have received multiple reports that the website and socials are no longer functional & the users are not able to sell this token in Pancakeswap. Please do your own due diligence and exercise extreme caution. This project, while clearly inspired by the Netflix show of the same name, is not affiliated with the official IP”, said a warning on coinmarketcap.

Orange light: Caveat emptor

The dystopian Korean drama caused a furore as it rampaged its way towards becoming the most popular show on the streaming service. The pre-sale for the cryptocurrency began on October 20, and according to the white paper, it was sold out in less than a second.

The currency was created as an “exclusive coin” for the Squid Game project, which will start in November and will be a crypto play-to-earn competition.

Offering his perspective, Manav Bajaj, Founder, Panther Quant, said, “The massive rise in the Squid Cryptocurrency bolsters our analysis of the sentimental side of cryptocurrency. We believe that the market is driven by more community members who are eagerly waiting for the next ‘moon’ token. Shiba Inu, Dogecoin and now Squid prove the point that the market sentiment is riding high with millions of investors emotionally invested into the market.”

Red light: After the high, a crash

It is perhaps fitting that the crypto, which zoomed over 2,400 percent in just 24 hours and saw its market capitalisation hit 174 million dollars, saw its buyers end up facing a grisly fate. A textbook case of rug-pulling saw developers corner all the funds invested in the mercurial crypto, leading to the value of the SQUID token nosediving by nearly 99.99% to $0.002541 in the past 24 hours, wiping off the entirety of its gains. As of the time of writing this, the value of the token was $0.003299 USD. Notably, the whitepaper and the official website of the token have vanished entirely, signalling an abandonment of the token by developers.

Clearly then, it’s not all fun and games when it comes to crypto investing. “Investors should exercise caution while jumping onto the Squid bandwagon,” said Sharat Chandra, a Blockchain & Emerging Tech Evangelist. “Due to the coin’s anti-dumping technology, users will not be able to sell the tokens if certain conditions are not fulfilled.”

SQUID employs a novel anti-dumping method. Chandra said that buying in the market releases selling credits at a 2:1 ratio. “The maximum quantity of SQUID that can be sold is 1/2 of the pool’s entire buying value. So, if you don’t have any selling credit left in the pool, you won’t be able to sell anything else, even if you buy in little increments for two days.”

If nothing else, at least the token was true to the show: everyone died, and 1 person got rich. The end.