Roaming the Wild West of crypto

CRYPTOCURRENCIES, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the metaverse, and Web 3.0. Just a decade ago, these were science fiction. Yet today, these adolescent creations hog the headlines, underpinning stories of rags to riches – or spectacular falls from grace.

Like the Wild West of the 1800s, the cryptospace remains a world uncharted. Plundering and thievery abound, and sheriffs struggle to enforce the rule of law. “Wanted” posters are plastered on the walls, but a huge question mark obscures the faces.

Take the Squid Game Token (SQUID) creators, whose “sh*tcoin” (a term describing coins inspired by memes or pop culture, with no real use case) rose by an astronomical 23,000,000 per cent in a week. Just when punters thought they had struck the lottery, the anonymous creators pulled the rug and absconded with some US$3.3 million. Or consider the mystery hacker who broke through security of gaming service sidechain Ronin Network in what may be crypto’s largest breach, riding off into the sunset US$625 million richer. These fraudsters’ identities remain unknown.