After a meteorological rise , a cryptocurrency inspired by theNetflix series Squid Gamespectacularly nosedive into obliviousness this week with its value plummeting to almost - zero . While it ’s not totally cleared what went on , some have reported that its developer have jumped ship and range away with the cash in hand in what seems to be a “ rug pull ” cozenage .

SQUID crypto coin is ( or should we say , was ) a " play - to - earn " cryptocurrency where people buy tokens to play an online game based on the South Korean selection drama Squid Game . In the arrive at series , hundreds of cash - strap contestant are forced to play a string of deadly game establish on kids ' playground pastimes . However ,   the   coin was never officially affiliated with the Netflix serial publication .

The coin was only launched last week , but it forthwith generated ballyhoo and attention — featuring in articles byBBC , CNBC , Business Insider , and others . The economic value of each coin quickly rose to around $ 38 by the last twenty-four hours of October 2021 , according toCoinMarketCap . Then , within a few hours of Monday , November 1 , the time value shot up to $ 2,856 before gate-crash to less than $ 0.01 .

The websiteSquidGame.cashhas since vanish and theirTwitter accounthas been temporarily throttle . In a message post on itsTelegramchannel on Monday , the creators of SQUID said the developers do not want to continue running the project as they are “ depressed from the gouger ” and “ overwhelmed with emphasis . ”

By all report , the Lord have hold up AWOL . This has led many to assume that the creators have extract a “ rug pull , ” in which the creators of a crypto labor suddenly cash out their practical coins for real - world cash or another cryptocurrency of economic value , causing its price to plummet .

According toBscScan , an address “ cover to have been involved in a rug pull of SQUID ” exchanged heaps of SQUID coin in central for Binance Coin ( BNB ) on November 1.Gizmodoestimates the anonymous Lord have made off with an figure $ 3.38 million in total .

There were a few red flag that play up SQUID might not be all it was touted to be , chiefly the fact that   it did n’t let people resell their tokens . Nevertheless , the creators ’ convincing site and a steady stream of costless PR from mainstream media electric receptacle meant that many bought into the coin — and now they ’re unfortunately pay the price .

“ I lose all of what I have in this project , ” one investor who had bought $ 5,000 Charles Frederick Worth of SQUID , toldCoinMarketCap .

“ I guess this will serve as a worthful lesson for me to not just chute into meme coin , ” another added . “ I am not blaming anyone except myself , but I call up there must be some mechanism to avoid this in the future , and for newsworthiness outlets to stop giving aid to these scammer - type tokens . ”