Experts warn that these can sometimes be a sign of a scam and make it a very high risk investment.
HomeToday's PaperLatest NewsEconomyFinanceCurrent AffairsInternationalManagementStrategistWeekendData StoriesBS ReadsMarketsNewsStocksCommoditiesIPOsMutual FundsMutual Fund ToolsDerivativesBS Fund ManagerCompaniesNewsResultsFinancial X-RayAutoEngineeringFinancialsInfraITOil & GasTelecomServicesAll SectorsOpinionEditorial CommentColumnistsBS SpecialBusiness Law & TaxLunchPollTechNewsReviewsLaunchesSpecialsSpecialsWeekendDigital ConsumerPE/VCBrand WorldSMEStart-upsB2B ConnectSponsored ContentBS SpecialWorld Environment DayPFNewsFeaturesInvestmentsLoans & Credit CardsTaxInsuranceFinancial ToolsPortfolioThe Morning ShowCoronavirusSportsICC T20 WC 2021ICC World Test ChampionshipIPL BS APPS iPad iPhone Android Wap BS PRODUCTS Smart Investor BS Hindi BS Motoring BS Books Today's Paper BS E-Paper Bs Learning Hi, Change Password Subscribe My Page Sign out Change Password Manage My Account My Page Sign out SIGN IN Subscribe ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming steps down as chairman to focus on TikTok Gone in 5 minutes: Investors lose millions in 'Squid Game' cryptocurrency More than 40,000 people still held the token after the crash, according to BscScan, a blockchain search engine and analytics platform John Yoon | NYT Last Updated at November 4, 2021 00:28 IST email this article Message: Recipients' Email: Type address separated by commas Your Email: Enter the characters shown in the image. Send me a copy: The cryptocurrency, called Squid, began trading early last week at a price of just one penny per token Millions of dollars vanished in a matter of minutes after investors piled into a new cryptocurrency inspired by “Squid Game,” the popular Netflix survival series, only to watch its value plunge to nearly zero in a few short hours. The cryptocurrency, called Squid, began trading early last week at a price of just one penny per token. In the following days, it drew attention from a number of mainstream media outlets. By early Monday, it was trading at $38 a token on a cryptocurrency exchange called Pancakeswap. Then Squid went on a roller-coaster ride. In a 10-minute span later on Monday, the token’s value grew from $628.33 to $2,856.65, according to CoinMarketCap, a crypto data tracking website. Then, five minutes later, it traded at $0.0007. More than 40,000 people still held the token after the crash, according to BscScan, a blockchain search engine and analytics platform. One of them was John Lee, 30, of Manila. He said he had spent $1,000 on the Squid tokens, thinking “somewhat instinctively” that the token had been authorised by the Netflix show. Lee said he was surprised when he learned that he was not be able to sell the token immediately. He can sell the tokens now, but he’d be left with “almost nothing,” he said. Sharon Chan, a spokeswoman for Netflix, declined to comment. The reasons behind Squid’s collapse, reported earlier by Gizmodo, weren’t clear. Neither were the identities of its creators. Its website appeared to have been taken offline. An email sent to its developers bounced back. Its social media channels appeared to have been shut down. Its Twitter account was not accepting direct messages or replies. In the aftermath, the crypto currency world is mulling whether Squid was what Molly Jane Zuckerman, head of content at CoinMarketCap, called a “rug pull,” in which a cryptocurrency’s backers effectively leave the market and take their investors’ funds with them. “I’m not seeing the developers coming online and saying, ‘Hold with us, so sorry, we’ll figure this out,’ which is what happens when there’s some sort of non-malicious problem,” she said. Squid’s crash highlights the regulatory gaps over crypto currencies, as government agencies and private firms rush to get a grip on the volatile yet increasingly popular investment.
