- Binance has said that it will assist in tracking the proceeds of the Squid Token scam
- The Squid Token founders stole over $3 million in a rug pull
- The token was not associated with the TV show
Binance has said it is actively hunting down the operators of the Squid Token scam that disappeared with some $3.38 million of investor funds this week. The exchange has said that it is using its blockchain analytics to try and track down where the funds went after the coin rocketed from $0.01 to almost $3,000 before crashing to $0 early on Monday. The scam made national news thanks to the popularity of the TV show after which it was named, with Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao this week stating that many buyers were sucked in due to a perceived association with Squid Game which was not the case.
Squid Token Crashed From $3,000 to $0
Squid Token had been listed on PancakeSwap, an exchange on the Binance Smart Chain platform, but in a blog post, Zhao stated that issues with the coin had been spotted early on:
The project was not without its red flags, which attentive users were quick to spot. Users who bought the token reported that they weren’t able to sell it, and any official association to the Netflix series was quickly disproven.
These red flags didn’t stop people fomoing into Squid Coin, which topped out around $3,000 before the founders drained the liquidity pool, stealing all the money in the pool and crashing the price to zero.
Binance Helping To Trace Funds
Zhao reminded readers that the company cannot stop scams launching on the exchange and that it was down to investors to do their own due diligence. He did however offer a crumb of comfort to those who lost money, including one investor who allegedly lost his life savings of $28,000 in the rug pull, by stating that the exchange’s comprehensive blockchain analytics would be turned towards identifying where the funds ended up.
Zhao did however remind Squid Token victims that “in cases like this, there is little we can do to recover funds or intervene”, suggesting that any action will be down to law enforcement, which carries its own advantages and disadvantages.
