Entertainment
Shocking! Squid game cryptocurrency investors lose around Rs 25 crore in scam
Squid Game turned out to be a scam, after all. I am not talking about the blockbuster Netflix show that had the world hooked to it for weeks. I am referring to the eponymous cryptocurrency inspired by the series. The Squid cryptocurrency collapsed on Monday, but the hucksters who leveraged the popularity of the show managed to make off an estimated $3.38 million (roughly Rs 25.3 crore). After reaching a peak value of $2,861, according to CoinMarketCap, the currency tanked to just $0, and the investors lost all their money.
Launched last week amid huge suspicion, the Squid Game cryptocurrency was only a front for a very common theft practice in the crypto world. It is called a “rug pull”. It is when the creators of cryptocurrency cash out the coins for real money, possibly when the prices have hit an all-time high – which was more than 310,000 per cent in the case of the Squid cryptocurrency – leaving almost no liquidity in the exchange for any further trade. The investors, hence, do not get to sell their coins.
Squid Game cryptocurrency was made available for purchase on October 20, letting investors buy a pay-to-play token for an online game, which was inspired by the Korean show. The inspiration behind the cryptocurrency was very straightforward. Much like how several indebted people play do-or-die versions of children’s games to win money in the Netflix series, investors believed similarly-planned crypto would win them more Squid tokens.
The most conspicuous way to know that the Squid Game cryptocurrency was a scam was its website – SquidGame.cash. The three-week-old website, which is now defunct, had grammatical mistakes and several weird spellings. Those two should have been the red flags for investors who are now left high and dry after the swoop. The crypto’s social media accounts have also disappeared at once. There was also a Telegram channel for the people engaging in the Squid trade but it did not allow comments from anyone but creators – another red flag.
But the biggest red flag was when investors began facing trouble selling their Squid tokens on the platform. With the spike in the cryptocurrency’s value last week – which can be mostly attributed to the bumper coverage in mainstream media, the doubts that the token could be a part of a scam began to deepen. But before they could do something, creators took the currency off the market, draining all its liquidity. CoinMarketCap even warned investors against putting their money into the currency, telling them to “please do your own due diligence and exercise caution while trading”.
Just because crypto is the fad right now does not mean you recklessly – and almost mindlessly – invest in a scam that is simply trying to leverage a pop culture item to get attention. Before Squid Game, hucksters tried to siphon off people’s money from crypto named Mando, which was inspired by the Disney+ show Mandalorian. Disney was quick to spot it and warn people against it. It is difficult to tell a legitimate cryptocurrency and a fake one apart, but investors need to tread more carefully.
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
Content provided by Adverloom
Foodman Vishal Singh Honored for Hunger Free World Mission in Bangkok
Dr. Abhishek Verma Dedicates a Shelter in Memory of His Mother, Veena Verma, at KGMU; Inaugurated by Daughter Nicolle Verma
Cheers and Cheers: Barzilla’s Joyful Ode to Inclusivity and Celebration
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists
IPL 20202 UPDATE: KXIP vs MI IPL Dream11 Team Prediction for Today Match, Update Point Table of all Team.
In a Live debate AAP leader Syed Asad Abbas hurls abuses to BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
‘India’s Most Wanted’ trailer out Arjun Kapoor on hunt of Osama-Bin-Laden
Time to move on: Sonakshi on Shatrughan’s joining Congress
