Notable trend: Increase in phishing attacks and rug pull tactics
New attack methods: DNS hijacking, contract vulnerability, and phishing attempts
Breakdown of Incidents
Phishing Attacks:
Unimevbot users were targeted through malicious MEV bot codes on the website. The exact loss remains undisclosed, but funds were transferred to the hacker’s on-chain address.
Coinbase Wallet also fell victim to a phishing attack that exploited the Web3 messaging network protocol. The exact financial impact is yet to be reported.
Contract Vulnerabilities:
Linear Finance exposed its $LUSD token to an exploit attack due to a contract vulnerability. No specific loss has been reported.
Rug Pulls:
BNBpay and YZER were involved in rug pull incidents, with losses amounting to approximately $114,000 and $28,600, respectively, following significant liquidity removals.
DNS Hijacking:
Balancer was targeted in a DNS hijacking attack by a phishing group known as AngelDrainer, resulting in a loss of around $238,000.
Infrastructure Vulnerability:
An unspecified infrastructure vulnerability led to significant funding and team token loss for a project named “None.” The exact financial impact remains undisclosed.
Conclusion
The Slowmist report underscores the increasing complexity and diversity of attacks in the crypto and blockchain landscape. SlowMist urges users to remain vigilant and adopt comprehensive security strategies.
The world of cryptocurrency has seen its fair share of volatile market movements, but none quite as eventful as the launch of the WSB Coin token project. Launched on May 2, by moderators of the popular trading subreddit r/WallStreetBets, the token claimed to be the official memecoin of Wall Street Bets. This subreddit gained notoriety after the GameStop short squeeze, which sent hedge funds reeling in January 2021.
The creators of the WSB token claimed that there would be no allocation for the team and that 10% of the coins would be reserved for the subreddit. The website touted it as the “fairest launch memecoin you will find with no team allocation and no presale. Just a free airdrop and some coins for the community. 10% of the $WSB supply is reserved as a treasury for the r/wallstreetbets sub to do with as they please.”
However, just days after the launch, the cryptocurrency community was hit with shocking news that one of the token’s team members had started dumping massive amounts of tokens. On May 4, on-chain detective ZachXBT tweeted that “zjz.eth,” who runs the moderation bots for the subreddit, had allegedly pulled the rug on WSB investors. According to on-chain data, zjz.eth had sold WSB coins in exchange for 334 Ether (ETH), worth around $635,000 at the time of writing.
The market reacted accordingly, and the token price plummeted from an all-time high of $0.00067279 to an all-time low of $0.00004827 in just two days. Community members were quick to warn others not to buy the dip as the moderators still had access to 10% of the total supply. The incident has raised concerns among the community members, who feel betrayed by the moderators of the subreddit.
Meanwhile, another moderator who goes by the name WSBmod, has threatened to report those involved in the dump to the police and the FBI if they don’t come forward. The moderator urged zjz.eth to return the money and claimed that they had identified the team member responsible for the dump. However, the identity of the team member is still unknown.
This incident is a stark reminder of the risks involved in investing in cryptocurrencies, especially when dealing with new tokens that are not yet widely accepted. The WSB token project had gained a significant following due to its association with the popular subreddit, but the rug pull has left many investors feeling cheated. It remains to be seen what actions the moderators of the subreddit will take to address the situation and regain the trust of their community.
In conclusion, while the cryptocurrency market may offer lucrative opportunities for investors, caution is advised, especially when investing in new and untested tokens. The WSB Coin dump is a clear example of the potential pitfalls that can arise when investing in such projects, and serves as a cautionary tale for investors in the cryptocurrency market.
On Wednesday, American Youtuber and “internet detective” Coffeezillaa published a recorded interview of himself and disgraced Youtuber Paul “Ice Poseidon” Denino. During the session, Denino allegedly confirmed that he made off with $750k worth of his investors’ money through rug pulling a crypto project dubbed “Cxcoin.”
The ordeal started last July, when Denino created the Cxcoin for streamers and content creators on the Binance Smart Chain. Denino then allegedly promoted the coin to his community of followers, telling them that “don’t worry, no rug [pull] here all the money is locked [in a smart contract] lol, my wallets are pinned.” However, Denino abandoned the project just two weeks later, saying:
It’s pretty simple. Basically, the coin was inactive for a long time; the crypto market is crashing, and obviously, I’m not going to let $300k [locked] in the liquidity pool go to waste, so I took what wasn’t necessary in there.”
In addition to the $300k taken from the liquidity pool, another $200k from the Cxcoin token presale and $250k from a marketing wallet are reportedly missing, yielding a total of $750k worth of investors’ funds. Denino allegedly returned a small portion of the misappropriated funds to the smart contracts after public outrage. However, the majority of the capital has not been returned. Later on, when asked by Coffeezillaa as to how much money he made off the “scam,” Denino cited 55% of the money going to himself, while 45% going to developers, leaving him with a cut of approximately $300k.
To Be Fair, You Have To Have a Very High IQ to Understand Crypto Scams.
but actually it’s incredibly simple —- if Ice Poseidon made $300,000 from two weeks of cryptoscamming, where did that money come from? from thin air? https://t.co/v5aaMDZhDT
— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) February 2, 2022
Regarding the whereabouts of the funds, Denino allegedly purchased a Tesla only days after the capital went missing. With comments on his Twitter account suspended, many users took to Youtube and Discord to voice their dissatisfaction, with Discord user 3840x2160p#3258 writing:
He lived off donators’ money his whole grown life pretty much, then his twitch comeback gets denied, and so since his career is stagnant, he decides to scam his fans and investors.
Ice Poseidon originally rose to prominence as a Twitch streamer playing the fantasy MMORPG Runescape. In 2017, he was permanently banned from the platform after a viewer called in a bomb-threat hoax as he boarded an airplane. During at least one instance in his Twitch streams, Denino allegedly admitted to credit-card fraud while on air.
BREAKING! The famous livestreamer Ice Poseidon has admitted to taking $500,000+ from his fans in a crypto scam he started called CXCOIN. I confronted Ice on a call and he told me he was going to “look out for himself and not do that” (return the money)
Apparently, the Ethereum Foundation employs incredible traders. Once again, they managed to cash out at the very top. On November 16th, ETH was worth an all-time high of $4891. On the very next day, the Ethereum Foundation sent 20,000 ETH to Kraken and sold them. Is this suspicious at all? Not per se, but this is the second time that they pull the same magic move.
Related Reading | Why The Ethereum Foundation Launched A Client Incentive Program
A professional trader that goes by the name Edward Morra on Twitter was the first to spot the trade. “Friendly reminder that ETH foundation cashed out at the top (again). ETH down 40+% since then,” he said. Morra also provided a chart that shows ETH’s sharp decline in price since the sale.
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Friendly reminder that ETH foundation cashed out at the top (again). ETH down 40+% since then pic.twitter.com/Bp80hEDvK0
— Edward Morra (@edwardmorra_btc) January 21, 2022
To add insult to injury, the Ethereum Foundation only paid $20 in gas fees. That might be the most impressive feat of them all.
At the time of writing,the Ethereum Foundation’s walletholds 353,318 ETH, which is approximately $835K at current prices.
Get 110 USDT Futures Bonus for FREE!
What Do We Know About The Organization’s Previous Sell-Off?
Back to Morra, his Twitter followers told him that this information was of no use to them this late in the game. The trader surprised the world and pulled an ace up his sleeve. As it turns out, Morra tweeted about the trade at the time it happened. Not only that, he warned them, “They cashed out 35k ETH on 17th of May this year, marked on the chart.”
Casual 20k ETH cashout by EthDev, sent to Kraken:https://t.co/w6AbdeW2AJ
They cashed out 35k ETH on 17th of May this year, marked on the chart 👇 pic.twitter.com/sTbUwHSzD4
— Edward Morra (@edwardmorra_btc) November 11, 2021
As you can see on the chart, on May 17th the price of ETH was near its previous peak. And after the Ethereum Foundation sold, ETH trended down for months and months. Is this a coincidence? Does the foundation employ great traders? Or, is there something else to this story? Did they dump on retail ETH holders? Did the Ethereum Foundation know anything that the rest of the world didn’t?
The Ethereum Foundation still holds 394,787 ETH, and Vitalik said he persuaded foundation to sell 70,000 ETH at the top of 2018 to support the work of developers. This is a normal operation, but it also means that the Foundation thought that bear market is coming.
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) May 21, 2021
At the time of the first sell-off, journalist Colin Wu highlighted the trade and said, “The Ethereum Foundation transferred 35,000 Eth to the Kraken Exchange on May 17. Vitalik said bubbles could have ended already on May 20.” Analyzing the move, Wu said, “This is a normal operation, but it also means that the Foundation thought that bear market is coming.”
The gas fee for this operation was 0.00240474 ETH, or $5.66 at the time of writing. Wow.
ETH price chart for 01/25/2022 on Bitfinex | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
What’s The Ethereum Foundation Anyway?
According toEthereum’s official site:
“The EF is not a company, or even a traditional non-profit. Their role is not to control or lead Ethereum, nor they are the only organization that funds critical development of Ethereum-related technologies. The EF is one part of a much larger ecosystem.”
The Ethereum Foundation distributes funds to developers via the Ecosystem Support Program and the Fellowship Program, organizes Devcom, and more. To do all that, they surely need Fiat currency in some capacity. The trade makes sense from that angle.
Related Reading | Ethereum Foundation Devs Discuss ETH2 Launch & Economics
The question, though, is, did they know that a crash was coming? And if they did, did they reach that conclusion through technical and on-chain analysis or by… other methods?
Featured Image by PatriestB on Pixabay | Charts by TradingView
PeckShield has identified 55 “rug-potentials” on Binance Smart Chain.
The security firm warned that the teams behind the listed tokens could mint unlimited tokens, blacklist accounts, and restrict users from selling.
Rug pulls been a frequent occurrence on Binance Smart Chain in recent months.
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Security firm PeckShield has put out a list of 50 potential scam projects on Binance Smart Chain.
PeckShield Identifies Suspicious BSC Projects
PeckShield has published a list of 55 “rug-potentials” on Binance Smart Chain.
#Scam PeckShield has detected 50+ tokens with rug-potentials. The community may want to be aware before interacting:
· Admin can mint unlimited tokens
· Admin can restrict token selling
· Admin can blacklist any account@bsc_daily #BSC Here is the list:https://t.co/6mBp2HX6Hm pic.twitter.com/fYJAMAPs7H
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) January 13, 2022
After analyzing smart contracts of 55 early-stage tokens run by anonymous teams, PeckShield detectedmalicious functions that let administrators mint unlimited tokens, blacklist accounts, and block holders from selling their tokens. As such, it concluded that the projects may execute a so-called “rug pull” on their investors. “Rug pull” is a popular term used to describe crypto exit scams in which teams abandon projects or sell tokens on exchanges and disappear with investors’ funds.
PeckShield listed the projects it had identified in a Thursday tweet. The firm highlighted that the smart contracts for the tokens are designed in such a way that users can buy but not sell their holdings, creating a “honeypot” scenario. Tokens that employ a honeypot mechanism typically rise in value as more investors buy in before they find out that they cannot liquidate their positions. The token creator can then pull the rug and run off with the funds. Several scam projects have adopted a honeypot strategy to steal investors’ funds in recent weeks. In one high-profile case, a project styling itself on the hit Netflix show Squid Game launched a token called SQUID on Binance Smart Chain. It rallied thousands of percent in a few days before plummeting to zero when the team pulled the rug, making off with about $12 million.
PeckShield told Crypto Briefing that it “decided to warn the community earlier rather than later” following a discussion with the team at Binance Smart Chain. Discussing how the listed tokens share common issues, PeckShield explained:
“Each token owner’s authority is too large and most of these tokens have too few sellers. Moreover, when interacting with PancakeSwap, the selling may be restricted.”
The good news is that 54 of the 55 flagged projects do not have active users or value locked on them. One token using the ticker symbol TRUMP has some on-chain activity and about $29,500 in liquidity on PancakeSwap. The TRUMP token has about 271 holders and has recorded a trading volume of $144,860 over the course of last week.
In a separate tweet, PeckShield warned Binance Smart Chain users against trading TRUMP. The post described it as a “high-risk token” because it lets the owner mint unlimited tokens. Crypto Briefing investigated the project and could not source the team’s team, website, or social media channels.
Rug pulls have been a recurring problem for Binance Smart Chain users in recent months. In addition to Squid Game, several other scam projects launched on the network in 2021, resulting in users losing millions of dollars worth of funds. Among the biggest attacks involved TurtleDex and MetaDAO, which respectively stole $2.4 million and $3.2 million from their users.
The trend has continued into 2022, too. The security firm RugDoc reported Wednesday that multiple Binance Smart Chain tokens had “rugged” users after launching Initial DEX Offerings on the network. While Binance Smart Chain has hosted many malicious crypto teams, it’s not the only network that’s seen a wave of rug pulls. As the crypto space has grown, Ethereum has become a hub for similar incidents. Most recently, an anonymous team called EtherWrapped lured Ethereum users in with a fake New Year’s Eve airdrop then pulled the rug. They made off with 30 ETH.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH, and other cryptocurrencies.
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The information on or accessed through this website is obtained from independent sources we believe to be accurate and reliable, but Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information on or accessed through this website. Decentral Media, Inc. is not an investment advisor. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice. The information on this website is subject to change without notice. Some or all of the information on this website may become outdated, or it may be or become incomplete or inaccurate. We may, but are not obligated to, update any outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate information.
You should never make an investment decision on an ICO, IEO, or other investment based on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO, IEO, or other investment. We do not accept compensation in any form for analyzing or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or commodities.
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ImmuneFi reported that $10.2 billion in theft and frauds affected the crypto industry over the course of 2021.
$7.55 billion was stolen via insider rug pulls, while $2.66 billion was stolen via outside hacks targeting various platforms.
Similar studies from Chainalysis and Elliptic support those numbers.
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DeFi security firm ImmuneFi has published a report suggesting that $10.2 billion was stolen through crypto attacks last year. The report corroborates other similar reports released in recent weeks.
$7.5 Billion Was Stolen by Insiders
ImmuneFi surveyed various incidents and determined that a total of $10.2 billion was stolen over the course of 2021.
The funds were stolen via two main methods: outside attacks due to platform vulnerabilities and alleged insider fraud.
$7.55 billion was stolen in a few major incidents of alleged insider fraud, primarily involving rug pulls from project founders. ImmuneFi drew attention to Africrypt, a South African exchange that saw its founders vanish with $3.5 billion in June. It also observed $2 billion stolen from the Turkish exchange Thodex.
The firm also highlighted three rug pulls from Binance Smart Chain projects: Meerkat Finance, whose founders stole $31 million; Popcornswap, whose founders stole $2.1 million; and finally the infamous Squid Game token, whose founders stole $12 million.
Over $2 Billion Was Stolen Via Hacks
Another $2.66 billion was stolen through vulnerabilities that left various platforms open to outside attacks and thefts.
In this category, the losses were distributed between over 130 attacks. Notable attacks targeted Venus Network, Bitmart, Cream Finance, Finiko, BadgerDAO, and BXH. Each of those projects saw $100 million to $200 million stolen from its holdings.
ImmuneFi noted that Poly Network, which had $613 million stolen from it in June, had most of those funds returned to it.
Other Reports Confirm Figures
Chainalysis reported similar figures this week. It suggested that $14 billion of illicit crypto funds were moved last year, though it omitted some incidents that ImmuneFi included while also covering extra categories such as ransomware and darknet markets.
This week’s report also comes months after a similar report from the crypto analytics firm Elliptic. That report suggested that $10.5 billion was stolen through DeFi attacks in 2021.
ImmuneFi also reported that $3.8 billion to $4.38 billion was stolen in 2020, suggesting that crypto crime rose significantly over the course of 2021 compared to the previous year. However, also according to Chainalysis, given the increase in number of transactions over 2021, the proportion of transactions representing illicit activity was only 0.15%, a 126% decline from 2020, despite the rise in real numbers.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and other cryptocurrencies.
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The information on or accessed through this website is obtained from independent sources we believe to be accurate and reliable, but Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information on or accessed through this website. Decentral Media, Inc. is not an investment advisor. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice. The information on this website is subject to change without notice. Some or all of the information on this website may become outdated, or it may be or become incomplete or inaccurate. We may, but are not obligated to, update any outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate information.
You should never make an investment decision on an ICO, IEO, or other investment based on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO, IEO, or other investment. We do not accept compensation in any form for analyzing or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or commodities.
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An 800 ETH rug pull worth over $3.2 million was reported earlier today.
The perpetrator was a project called MetaDAO, which later transferred the stolen funds to Tornado Cash.
Rug pulls account for less money lost overall than DeFi hacks do, but they are still common.
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A project called MetaDAO has made off with roughly 800 ETH, or $3.2 million, in an apparent rug pull scam perpetuated over the holiday weekend.
Holiday Crypto Heist
Just ahead of New Year’s Eve, investors in a project called MetaDAO have found themselves victim of a $3.2 million rug pull scam.
Early this morning, PeckShield, a blockchain security company, issued an alert that MetaDAO had made off with 800 ETH, worth over $3.2 million at press time, in an apparent rug pull scam. MetaDAO thentransferredthe stolen funds to Tornado Cash, a privacy protocol that allows users to hide their Ethereum transactions and that theoretically allows for greater anonymity.
A “rug pull” is a common type of scam within crypto markets in which a project’s developers promote substantial buy-in from investors before abandoning the project altogether and ultimately keeping—some would say “stealing”—the funds.
MetaDAO’swebsiteis currently unavailable per a suspension.
A Dec. 6Medium articlefrom MetaDAO calls the project “the DAO of DAOs” and claimed MetaDAO would “build a new universe.” The article goes on to discuss the story behind the project’s inception, citing WallStreetBets legend Keith Gill and the GameStop short squeeze that occurred earlier this year as the inspiration behind the project.
Rug pulls in the crypto space generally account for less money lost to scammers than hacks, but they still occur with somewhat troubling frequency.Only last night, PeckShieldreportedanother possible rug pull event in which 1,100 BNB (worth over $600,000 at press time) were stolen by MetaSwapMGAS. As was the case with today’s MetaDAO rug pull, the stolen funds in the MetaSwapMGAS scam were sent to Tornado Cash, obscuring their subsequent locations.
Another such scam that recently created asevere stircame last month when the Binance Smart Chain project SQUID token—which was purported to be based on the hit Netflix series Squid Game—crashed after buyers caught on that the token was not affiliated with the show. The token soon crashed by 99.99%, but not before team behind the project made out with nearly $12 million.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.
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The information on or accessed through this website is obtained from independent sources we believe to be accurate and reliable, but Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information on or accessed through this website. Decentral Media, Inc. is not an investment advisor. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice. The information on this website is subject to change without notice. Some or all of the information on this website may become outdated, or it may be or become incomplete or inaccurate. We may, but are not obligated to, update any outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate information.
You should never make an investment decision on an ICO, IEO, or other investment based on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO, IEO, or other investment. We do not accept compensation in any form for analyzing or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or commodities.
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Snowdog has crashed over 90% following the protocol’s planned token buyback.
During the buyback, only 7% of SDOG holders were able to sell their tokens at a profit.
Some members of the Snowdog community have accused the developers of using the buyback to exit their positions first, leaving everyone else holding the bag.
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Snowdog, a self-styled decentralized reserve meme coin, has been accused of pulling the rug on its community after crashing over 90%.
Snowdog Plummets 90%
SnowdogDAO has sent investors reeling this Thanksgiving.
The Avalanche-based OlympusDAO fork plummeted over 90% Thursday night after the protocol’s planned token buyback resulted in a huge selloff.
SDOG/USD chart. Source: CoinMarketCap
Snowdog, which styles itself as a “decentralized reserve meme coin,” allowed users to mint SDOG tokens at a discounted rate by depositing other assets as collateral. Snowdog attracted liquidity in much the same way as OlympusDAO, the first protocol to utilize the so-called “liquidity flywheel” model. In recent weeks, many OlympusDAO forks have emerged on Ethereum and other blockchains amid growing interest in the protocol.
The OlympusDAO liquidity flywheel (Source: @RyanWatkins_)
Snowdog differed from other OlympusDAO forks in that it only planned to be active for eight days. The protocol announced on launch that it would use all of the assets in its treasury after eight days to orchestrate a“massive buyback” of Snowdog tokens ahead of transitioning into a meme coin by fractionalizing each SDOG token by a factor of one billion.
The planned buyback resulted in many holders accumulating SDOG tokens in anticipation of a substantial price increase. However, when the buyback started late Thursday, the Snowdog token instead plummeted, eventually losing over 90% of its pre-buyback value.
The price crash caused many in the Snowdog community to accuse the developers of “pulling the rug” by using the buyback to exit their positions first, leaving other investors stuck in their positions as prices crashed.
However, others have refuted this accusation, stating that the transaction data does not show any evidence of foul play.
Early Friday morning, the Snowdog team published a post-mortem report detailing why the SDOG token crashed. The developers apologised for failing to clearly state how the buyback would likely affect prices. An excerpt of the report read:
“We wanted to orchestrate an event that could capture the attention of the crypto ecosystem while procuring entertainment to people watching it from the sidelines… For the $SDOG price to be above market price before buyback (~$1200), sellers needed their $SDOG to be part of the first 7% of the supply being sold.”
With only 7% of the SDOG supply having the potential to be sold at a profit during the buyback, many holders were forced to sell below market price or face further losses, resulting in a 90% drawdown.
The post-mortem also outlined future plans for the SDOG token, detailing how the team aims to create long-term value for holders. However, many community members have declared that they have lost interest in the project following the crash. Whether the Snowdog community will be able to recover from the incident remains to be seen.
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The information on or accessed through this website is obtained from independent sources we believe to be accurate and reliable, but Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or warranty as to the timeliness, completeness, or accuracy of any information on or accessed through this website. Decentral Media, Inc. is not an investment advisor. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice. The information on this website is subject to change without notice. Some or all of the information on this website may become outdated, or it may be or become incomplete or inaccurate. We may, but are not obligated to, update any outdated, incomplete, or inaccurate information.
You should never make an investment decision on an ICO, IEO, or other investment based on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO, IEO, or other investment. We do not accept compensation in any form for analyzing or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or commodities.
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A cryptocurrency inspired by Netflix’s internationally hit TV show Squid Game scammed investors in what appears to be a $3.38-million “rug pull” scheme.
Dubbed SQUID, the cryptocurrency plunged to almost a fraction of a cent minutes after crossing over $2,850 at 09:35 UTC on Nov. 1. The deadly drop oed following a 75,000% bull run, showcasing a greater demand for SQUID among traders after its debut on Oct. 26.
At the core of the retail craze lay the popularity of Squid Game. The scammers promoted SQUID as a play-to-earn cryptocurrency inspired by the South Korean TV fictional show in which people put their lives at risk to play a series of children’s games for the opportunity to win 45.6 billion won (~$38.7 million).
The marketing ploy helped push SQUID prices from $0.01 on Oct. 26 to over $38 on Sunday. The cryptocurrency then jumped to $90 on Nov. 1, ushering in a massive pumping round that pushed its price further to over $2,850, only to crash all the way down to $0.002 minutes later.
SQUID price pump and dump. Source: CoinMarketCap
Red flags
In the days leading up to the massive crash, traders had complained that they could not sell their SQUID holdings in the only available market, a decentralized exchange called PancakeSwap. In their defense, SQUID founders said they had deployed an innovative “anti-dumping technology” that limits people from selling their tokens against lower demand.
A lot of my normie friends bought this $SQUID game token and couldn’t sell i (“anti-dump feature”)
Now look what happened pic.twitter.com/wq5egYBKFa
— Friend of Peach (@WaymanCap) November 1, 2021
“The more people join, the larger reward pool will be (sic),” the Squid Game white paper read, adding:
“Developers will take 10% of the entry fee with the remaining 90% given to the winner.”
Major news network CNBC also published the Squid Game cryptocurrency founders’ claims without omissions, insofar that it called SQUID the “very own brand” of the Netflix show.
The Squid Game cryptocurrency founders also said they were affiliated with the Netflix show as its official token partner. They also claimed that they had entered a strategic partnership with CoinGecko, a crypto data provider. However, in an interview with Cointelegraph, CoinGecko co-founder Bobby Ong refuted the claims, saying:
“[SQUID] did not meet our listing criteria, hence it will not be listed on CoinGecko. It’s most likely a scam.”
CoinMarketCap, a rival of CoinGecko, listed SQUID on its platform but warned visitors about the cryptocurrency’s dubious nature in a notice that read:
“There is growing evidence that this project has rugged. 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.”
Related: YouTube channels hacked and rebranded for livestreaming crypto scams
Meanwhile, analysts also noted that the Squid Game token founders had no profiles on LinkedIn, with Twitterati Crypto Tyrion ruling SQUID as a “100% rug pull.”
Closed Telegram group: ❌❌❌❌
Closed discord: ❌❌❌❌
Blocked Tweets comments: ❌❌❌❌
No founder Linkedin: ❌❌❌❌
CNBC article to pump: ❌❌❌❌
CONFIRMED SCAM@IncomeSharks @jaynemesis
— Crypto Tyrion (@Cryptotyrion) October 29, 2021
It now appears like a “game over” scenario for the SQUID bag holders.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
