In 2010, if you mined 10,000 BTC on your old laptop, you would probably be on the Forbes billionaire list today. But with Pi Network, is the story repeating itself?
Bitcoin – From Worthless to Trillion Dollar Asset
Bitcoin started as an experiment, called "junk cryptocurrency", but 15 years later, it has become the standard of the decentralized finance world. Those who believed and held BTC early have made millions of times more profit.
But is that true for Pi Network? While Bitcoin started quietly and gradually gained acceptance in the crypto community, Pi Network has attracted attention in a very different way. Its zero-resource mining model, popularity due to its strong referral strategy, and a large community have helped Pi achieve incredible popularity. However, this has also sparked a lot of controversy.
Pi Network - The Truth About Trading and Community Trust
Recently, Moonrock Capital CEO Simon Dedic made allegations of wash trading in the Pi Network ecosystem. He claimed that the majority of Pi's trading volume on exchanges like OKX, Bitget, and Gate.io is actually the result of market manipulation, not genuine demand.
Allegations of wash trading
In a post on X (Twitter), Simon Dedic pointed out the suspicious points about Pi Network's transaction volume, emphasizing that the project lacks participation from the real Web3 community. According to him, most of Pi's users are people with no experience in crypto, which makes them vulnerable to the project's operating model.
He also referred to a Chinese police report from 2023, which emphasized that Pi Network is a project with signs of fraud and has been investigated by the Vietnamese cybercrime unit. In addition, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou also warned about the risks of Pi Network, calling it a potential Ponzi scheme.
But the community still holds the faith?
Despite the criticism, Pi Network has received strong support from its community. According to data from BubleCrypto, Pi has increased by 37% over the past week, even as the overall market has fallen. Pi's trading volume reached $3.5 billion, surpassing BNB at times.
Some investors attribute Pi's success to its extremely loyal community, something that many other Web3 projects lack. Others argue that Pi is a pioneer in the attention economy, where the value of a coin is driven primarily by community trust, rather than technology or a solid financial model.
Is Pi Really the Second Bitcoin?
Some Pi investors believe it could reach a price of $314,159, a symbolic number derived from the mathematical constant Pi. However, this is considered by many crypto experts to be a fantasy, as Pi currently does not have an official blockchain (mainnet) and transactions still only take place on centralized exchanges.
Meanwhile, Binance is currently holding a community vote to decide whether to list Pi or not.
The results showed that 86% of the voters supported the listing of this token.
According to actual data, Binance recorded 294,957 votes, accounting for 0.12% of the total number of exchange users (about 2.5 billion people). However, Binance emphasized that the voting results are for reference only, the final decision is still subject to a strict censorship process.
If Pi is listed on Binance, the price could temporarily surge, with some predicting that it could reach $5-$10 by April.
Pi Day March 14: Opportunity or Risk?
The upcoming Pi Day event on March 14 could be a major turning point for the ecosystem. While the community is looking forward to the full Mainnet launch, Binance may consider this fact when deciding on listing.
Summary
Pi Network is still a controversial project with two opposing opinions:
- One side argues that this is a Ponzi scheme, taking advantage of the gullibility of crypto newcomers.
- The other side believes that Pi is a revolutionary Web3 movement that can bring crypto closer to the masses.
The community is very interested in Pi Network being listed on Binance, but Binance has not officially confirmed it yet. The lack of a complete Mainnet is Pi's biggest obstacle right now.
Regardless, if you are interested in Pi, always double-check the information, avoid FOMO, and do not invest beyond your means. The truth about Pi Network will probably only come to light when the project actually launches its mainnet.
