Cryptocurrency explosion: Mystery Shibu coin investor’s $8,000 is now worth $5.7BILLION and Squid Game currency rockets 2300% days after launch
- Cryptocurrency Shiba Inu soared more than 45 per cent over the past 24 hours
- Meme-based Dogecoin spin off muscled into the top-10 digital tokens at No. 8
- SQUID currency, tied to Korean series Squid Game, rocketed up 2,300 per cent
- The ‘play-to-earn’ currency has a market capitalisation of more than $184million
A mystery investor’s $8,000 which was used to buy an obscure cryptocurrency in August 2020 is now worth $5.7billion as several online currencies explode in value.
The unknown individual bought the stake in a cryptocurrency know as Shiba Inu, which has soared in value over the past few days including a spike of 45% in 24 hours.
The coin is another ‘meme based’ currency similar to Dogecoin that has been pushed by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk and its rise comes amid a rapid growth in the value of several new cryptocurrencies.
However the owner of the $5.7bn of Shiba Inu could have trouble selling his stake without sending the value of the coin plummeting because they control 17% of the currency.
SQUID cryptocurrency, tied to popular Korean series Squid Game, rocketed up on Thursday, just days after it was launched.
Meme-based cryptocurrency Shiba Inu soared more than 45 per cent over the past 24 hours, muscling into the top-10 largest digital tokens by market capitalisation
SQUID cryptocurrency, which is tied to popular Korean series Squid Game, rocketed up 2,300 per cent on Thursday, just days after it was launched
Shiba Inu’s price rocketed around 160 per cent this week, according to CoinMarketCap, leapfrogging Dogecoin to become the No. 8 cryptocurrency, with a $42 billion capitalisation.
‘It seems driven by fad buyers hoping to get in now and flip later to what will need to be a new series of buyers at even higher prices,’ said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.
‘This makes it closer to a collectible market than a currency market, and as such determining value with traditional analysis seems impossible.’
Trading in Shiba Inu is volatile, and by midday New York time yesterday it had given up most of the day’s gains, but was still up around seven per cent.
Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $1.2 trillion, was up around four per cent, but below its record high from last week.
The unknown individual bought the stake in a cryptocurrency know as Shiba Inu, which has soared in value over the past few days including a spike of 45% in 24 hours
Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $1.2 trillion, was up around four per cent, but below its record high from last week
Squid currency went online on October 20 with the games set to go live in November, according to its White Paper.
The online games are based on the viral television series which follows a group of randomly-selected debt-riddled strangers picked to compete in deadly games for a shot at a massive prize.
‘The more people join, the larger reward pool will be (sic),’ the paper added, explaining that developers would pocket 10 per cent of the entry fees with 90 per cent going to the winner.
And, unlike the series, the jackpot is not capped at $38.5million. However, entry does not come cheap with entry to the final game of the tournament currently costing around $33,500.
The games mimic popular scenes from the series including Red Light, Green Light, where contestants play a giant game of Grandma’s footsteps.
The online version will also feature Dalgona Candy, where contestants have to carve out a shape pressed into a piece of honeycomb, and Tug of War.
It is not clear how the games will be translated for an online audience but the white paper does make it clear ‘we do not provide deadly consequences’, unlike in the television series.
SQUID cryptocurrency, tied to popular Korean series Squid Game, rocketed up on Thursday, just days after it was launched
The games mimic popular scenes from the series including Red Light, Green Light, where contestants play a giant game of Grandma’s footsteps
The online games are based on the viral television series (pictured) which follows a group of randomly-selected debt-riddled strangers picked to compete in deadly games for a shot at a massive prize
The currency ran into trouble this week with CoinMoneyCap issuing a warning of ‘multiple reports’ users were unable to sell the tokens on Pancakeswap, a popular decentralized exchange.
It was not immediately clear what the issue was and the message was still displayed on CoinMoneyCap on Friday morning though the game’s white paper said the currency was protected with anti-dumping technology.
Known as ‘SHIB’ to a growing army of retail investors, Shiba Inu coins are worth a fraction of a cent.
Its website calls it ‘a decentralised meme token that has evolved into a vibrant ecosystem’.
Driving the gains, analysts said, is the promise of quick gains – a key factor behind the broader explosion of cryptocurrencies during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Others said crypto-specialist market makers were trading large volumes of the token.
‘People are always looking for ‘the next Bitcoin’,’ said Mati Greenspan, founder of crypto analysis and advisory firm Quantum Economics.
‘Get rich quick is a very powerful motivator.’
Shiba Inu’s price rocketed around 160 per cent this week, according to CoinMarketCap, leapfrogging Dogecoin to become the No. 8 cryptocurrency, with a $42 billion capitalisation
Expectations of more mainstream acceptance was also driving gains with talk the meme-based cryptocurrency could be traded on a major retail brokerage.
‘Shiba has posted incredible gains on speculation that it will rival or replace the concept of Dogecoin and its utility,’ said Chris Kline, co-founder of Bitcoin IRA.
But while Shiba Inu has attracted new investors to the market, its lack of any real use case makes its sky-high valuation tough to justify, said Jack McDonald, CEO of PolySign, a digital asset custody solutions firm for institutional investors.
‘While Shiba Inu has made people some fortunes lately, I don’t want to be holding this when the music stops,’ he said.
Source: Read Full Article
