Steal in five minutes: investors lose millions in cryptocurrency Squid Game

Millions of dollars disappeared in a matter of minutes after investors invested in a new cryptocurrency inspired by Netflix's popular survival series Squid Game, only to see its value plummet to near zero in a few short hours.

The cryptocurrency, dubbed Squid, began trading early last week at just one penny per token. In the days that followed, it attracted the attention of a number of mainstream media outlets. By early Monday, it was trading at $38 per token on cryptocurrency exchange Pancakeswap.

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Squid then went on a rollercoaster ride. According to CoinMarketCap, a cryptocurrency tracking website, the token's value rose from $628.33 to $2,856.65 in 10 minutes later on Monday. Then, five minutes later, the price was $0.0007.

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According to BscScan, a blockchain search engine and analytics platform, more than 40000 people were still holding the token after the crash. One of them was 30-year-old John Lee from Manila. He said he spent $1,000 on Squid tokens, "somewhat instinctively" thinking the token was authorised by the Netflix show.

Lee said he was surprised when he found out he couldn't sell the token immediately. He could sell the tokens now, but he would be left with "almost nothing," he said. Sharon Chan, a spokeswoman for Netflix, declined to comment.

The reasons for Squid's collapse, previously reported by Gizmodo, are not clear. Nor have the identities of its creators been specified. Its website appears to have been shut down. An email sent to the developers has come back. Its social media channels appear to have been shut down. His Twitter account did not accept direct messages or replies.

The Pancakeswap trading platform did not respond to a request for comment.

The cryptocurrency world has since pondered whether Squid was what Molly Jane Zuckerman, head of content at CoinMarketCap, called a "shakeout" where cryptocurrency supporters actually leave the market and take their investors' funds with them. "I don't see developers going online and saying, 'Hang on, sorry, we'll sort it out,' which is what happens when there is some non-malicious problem," she said.

Squid's collapse highlights gaps in cryptocurrency regulation as government agencies and private firms rush to take control of the volatile but increasingly popular investment.