Imagine waking up thinking you’re rich—like “quit your job, buy a sports car, and never check your bank balance again” kind of rich. Now imagine checking your phone five minutes later and realizing… you just got scammed.
That’s exactly what happened with the Squid Game crypto rug pull in 2021. Let’s break down how thousands got played—twice.
Back in 2021, when Squid Game took over Netflix, scammers saw an opportunity. They launched $SQUID, a so-called “play-to-earn” crypto that promised a game where players could win real money. The hype was unreal.
Investors jumped in like contestants rushing toward the finish line in Red Light, Green Light. In just a few days, the token’s price skyrocketed 45,000%, turning a few hundred bucks into what looked like millions.
But there was one tiny problem—no one could sell their tokens. People could buy as much as they wanted, but when they tried cashing out, the system just wouldn’t let them. That was the first sign something was off.
Then came the rug pull. On November 1, 2021, the anonymous developers behind $SQUID drained the liquidity pool, pocketing $3.38 million before vanishing into the crypto abyss. The token’s price crashed to zero in minutes, and investors were left staring at their screens, realizing they had just been part of one of the biggest crypto scams of the year.
Squid Game Season 2: New Episodes, Same Old Scam
You’d think after such a high-profile crypto scam, people would learn. But nope. When Squid Game Season 2 dropped in 2024, new Squid Game-inspired tokens flooded the market.
Prices shot up. Then, BOOM! Tokens lost 99% of their value overnight. It was like watching the 2021 scam on repeat, just with different victims. Even Netflix called it out. It literally tried to warn people.
Season 2 introduced Lee Myung-gi, a smooth-talking crypto scammer who tricks people into fake investments and vanishes with their money. The show wasn’t just entertainment. It was practically a public service announcement about scams. But investors? They ignored all the red flags and walked straight into another rug pull.
Squid Game Season 3 is launching soon, probably in June 2025. I’d bet on the scammers already working on their next big rug pull before Netflix even drops an official trailer. Because, if history has taught us anything, it’s that a new Squid Game token will pop up, shoot to the moon, and then crash just as fast.
The only real game here is guessing how long it’ll take for people to realize they’ve been scammed… again. By the way, what’s your bet? Will scammers strike first, or will investors finally learn their lesson?
