When it comes to the popular Korean Netflix show Squid Game, there's a cryptocurrency to express your love for the show.
Squid, which was selling at roughly one cent on Tuesday, reached $2.34 on Friday, a more than twenty-fold increase from its previous price.
The crypto has a market capitalization of $184 million, which represents the total volume of transactions on the exchange.
The dystopian drama series - which chronicles the life of a group of people forced to play lethal children's games in exchange for money - has become an international sensation.
Squid is what is known as a "play-to-earn" cryptocurrency, meaning that users can purchase tokens in order to participate in online activities in which they can earn additional tokens. It is possible to trade in these coins for other cryptocurrencies or traditional currency.
Many of the buyers of Squid will be gamers who will register for an online game starting in November.
As the platform's whitepaper explains, "the more the number of participants, the greater the award pool (sic) will be." Developers will receive 10% of entry fees, with the remaining 90% being distributed to the winner.
To participate in individual rounds, a player must pay a fee - for example, participating in Round 1: Red Light, Green Light will cost a player 456 Squid - with a total of six rounds, each of which becomes more expensive as the game progresses.
Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University, told the BBC that "this cryptocurrency joins an ever-growing roster of digital coins and tokens that ride on random memes or cultural occurrences."
"Surprisingly, many of these coins quickly capture the attention of investors, resulting in drastically inflated prices. Naive retail investors who become entangled in such speculative frenzy run the danger of suffering significant financial losses," Prasad said.
When it comes to play-to-earn games, they have become increasingly popular during this epidemic, thanks to the explosion in online gaming that has aided the development of the GameFi technology sector, which mixes amusement with legitimate ways to make a living.
It is anticipated that the metaverse will aid in the development of this sector even more. It is not only cryptocurrency traders who have benefited from the popularity of Squid Game.
