2021 was a pretty mixed bag of a year for crypto, but overall it continued to grow exponentially, with millions choosing to invest in this booming industry. But, with increased hype and demand comes criminals looking to make a buck by scamming individuals out of their precious crypto. This happened throughout 2021, with over $14 billion in crypto being stolen.
So, which scams made headlines after stealing millions?
1. The Squid Coin Rug Pull
After the huge global success of Netflix’s “Squid Game” in 2021, a “play-to-earn” cryptocurrency named “Squid Coin” was developed and released onto the market. The hype around Netflix’s most popular show to date fueled the hype around this crypto, with many assuming it was officially associated with Squid Game itself.
The idea behind a “play-to-earn” crypto is that users can buy tokens to use in online games and then make more tokens through these games, which they can then sell for a profit. So, this fun incentive to buy paired with the show’s global popularity drew people to start buying Squid Coin. In less than two weeks, the value of one Squid Coin shot up from $0.05 to over $2,800. And, as its value increased, more people invested, having faith that this coin would truly take off.
But this wasn’t to be. Unfortunately, this entire cryptocurrency was set to be a rug pull from the start. Developers pulled…
