After the SQUID rug pull last week, Binance plans to look into where the money went.
By 9:35AM, the SQUID token had jumped even further to $2,861.80. But here’s the catch — investors could not withdraw their money from decentralized exchange PancakeSwap. Although the team behind the SQUID token had earlier said that it introduced an anti-dumping mechanism to prevent investors from selling, it appears that (regardless of that mechanism), the team had no intention of following any whitepaper plans.
“Someone is trying to hack our project these days. Not only the Twitter account but also our smart contract… Squid Game Dev does not want to continue running the project as we are depressed from the scammers and [are] overwhelmed with stress.”
Binance will hand over whatever information it gets from its investigation to the necessary law enforcement agency.
A spokesperson for the exchange said:
“Our security team has launched an investigation — as a gesture of goodwill — and is exploring options to support the community [...] The Binance Investigations Team will be providing their findings to law enforcement in the appropriate jurisdiction.”
The exchange will also blacklist “addresses to prevent withdrawals from Binance accounts linked to the scam and deploying blockchain analytics to identify the bad actors.”
All That Glitters Is Not Gold
Although the token enjoyed coverage from some of the world’s biggest media outlets, including the BBC and CNBC, it was obvious that Netflix would not dabble into the crypto space without an official announcement.
SQUID's astronomical rise in value and a fear of missing out led many investors to buy the token in hopes of cashing out. Some warning signs were there, but many investors chose to ignore them.
Binance sounded a note of warning to investors, cautioning them to be wary of new and “high-risk” projects.
They said:
“These types of scam projects have become all too common in the DeFi space as speculative crypto investors seeking the next ‘moon shot’ are quick to invest in projects without doing the appropriate due diligence. Speculators seeking potentially unrealistic, high-risk 'lambo' or 'moon shot' opportunities should be wary of the risks of investing in new or unverified assets, whether in crypto or the securities markets.”