Original | Odaily

Author | Nanzi

After nearly six years, the "legendary project" of the crypto world, Pi Network, finally announced that it will launch its mainnet on February 20. PI has been controversial since its inception, with slogans like "one coin, one model, two coins for a yacht" and various pyramid schemes and viral marketing tactics, making it a faith for many, while also being seen by many as an "IQ test".

Today, OKX announced that it will open Pi Network spot trading at the same time as the Pi Network mainnet launch. Could it be that this time the "big mamas" will really get rich?

PI Coin Origin

Pi Network was founded in 2019 by Nicolas Kokkalis, Chengdiao Fan and Vincent McPhillip, who have Stanford backgrounds. Initially, it claimed to be building a "financial inclusion" decentralized cryptocurrency, with the core idea of lowering the participation threshold for cryptocurrencies, allowing users to "mine" for free through a mobile app without the need for specialized equipment and electricity consumption.

In the early stage of the project, it quickly accumulated users through an invitation system and social viral marketing, and started the KYC process from the beginning of 2022. As of the mainnet announcement, there are more than 60 million users, of which 19 million have completed KYC, and more than 10 million users have already migrated to its mainnet.

OKX Spot

OKX's deposit, auction and spot trading schedule is as follows:

• PI deposit opening time: 10:45 am (UTC+8) on February 12, 2025
• PI auction time: 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm (UTC+8) on February 20, 2025
• PI/USDT spot trading opening time: 4:00 pm (UTC+8) on February 20, 2025, the same time as the Pi Network mainnet launch.

It is worth noting that market orders are not allowed in the first five minutes of spot trading, and the maximum limit order amount and maximum position amount are both $10,000.

The current circulating supply of PI coins is 6.041 billion, which is 65% of the current total supply of 9.294 billion.

IQ test? Wealth myth? Or the beginning of a new round of off-chain user entry?

The controversy over the real value of PI has never stopped since its inception. But it is undeniable that the strong promotion and viral marketing concept of PI≈ has deeply penetrated people's minds.

In addition to the Pi Network project itself, many other projects using the PI name have also created impressive records. At the end of 2023, the second wave of Mineable, the market value of piin once exceeded $20 million, and it has been among the top five in trading volume on the OKX Mineable market for a long time. Currently, the two latest PI concept Mineable, π and п, have market values of $138 million and $16 million respectively.

At the same time, Pi Network has also been surrounded and besieged for involving in the gray industry. CCTV once reported that Pi Network is a "typical pyramid scheme project", pointing out that its claimed high returns (such as "1 Pi = $200") lack actual support and may mislead investors. The police in India, Vietnam and other countries have also investigated Pi Network, believing that its activities may involve illegal fundraising and pyramid schemes, and have warned participants of potential legal risks.

In 2021, DOGE once led a huge number of users and incremental funds into the market. In this bull market, many users are also waiting for a token that can break through the circle. Can PI replace TRUMP and complete this task, leading countless "big mamas" into the market? Or will it become a Top Signal of user and capital depletion, let's wait and see.