A cryptocurrency based on the hit Korean Netflix show Squid Game has grown by over 45,000 per cent since its launch this week.

The Squid crypto token, which was trading at about 1.2 cents on Tuesday, is currently priced at more than $4.5, a growth of nearly 45,000 per cent during this period.

Inspired by the dystopian Korean drama about a deadly tournament of children’s games, Squid is what is known as a “play-to-earn” cryptocurrency.

The show became an instant hit across the world, and the most-watched TV series of all time, with 111 million people tuning in on 12 October.

In the Squid Game project, people buy tokens to participate in online games from which they can earn more tokens that can be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies or fiat money.

Using the Squid tokens, people can participate in an online game of the programme, which begins in November.

“The more people join, the larger reward pool will be,” says the platform’s whitepaper, adding that “10% of entry fee will be sent to developers wallet and the rest 90% will be added to the reward pool for the last winner of the game.”

The online tournament is expected to follow the Netflix show’s plotline with six rounds of games, but unlike the TV series, the company says it does not provide “deadly consequences.”

“…everyone here in crypto world can participate in the Squid Game with SQUID token or related NFTs in our marketplace,” the platform noted.

Each round in the game costs participants certain amounts of the squid cryptocurrency to join.

For instance, the initial round named “Red Light, Green Light” after the TV show’s iconic game, costs participants 456 squid and the second level would cost participants an entry fee of 1000 units of the digital token.

Squid joins a growing list of virtual tokens created based on cultural trends and memes in the real world such as dogecoin which was created in 2013 as a parody and has since become a successful cryptocurrency.