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I Went Undercover in Crypto’s Answer to ‘Squid Game.’ It Nearly Broke Me


I spent 10 days competing in Crypto: The Game, a winner-takes-all contest where hundreds of players try to finesse and backstab their way to claiming a $140,000 cryptocurrency prize.

“Financial incentives are the greatest [user] acquisition tool in the world, but very bad for retention,” says David Phelps, founder of crypto startup JokeRace, who played in the second season of CTG. CTG is partly a game of skill; each day, tribes of players compete in a challenge—typically some sort of crypto puzzle, scavenger hunt, or arcade game—with the goal of earning temporary immunity from elimination. The days began to blend together as I settled into my strange new routine: I woke up late, participated in the challenge, performed any necessary spreadsheet admin, kept abreast of conversation, and shuffled back to my desk for the vote at midnight.

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