Analysts Warn Pi Network About Transparency After OM Token Crash of $5.5 Billion

After the catastrophic collapse of Mantra's OM token, analysts call for the Pi Core Team (PCT) to be more transparent and cautious.

These comments were made after Pi Network transitioned to a complete Open Mainnet phase.

Pi Network advised to prioritize transparency after mainnet

This warning appeared after OM price dropped over 90% in less than an hour, losing more than $5.5 billion in market capitalization.

After this collapse, there are widespread concerns in the cryptocurrency industry about similar events potentially occurring in projects undergoing critical development stages and token unlockups. Among these is Pi Network, which recently transitioned to Open Mainnet.

Dr Altcoin, a cryptocurrency analyst and decentralization ethics supporter, connected the OM incident with Pi Network and called for stricter regulations.

"The OM incident is a wake-up call for the entire cryptocurrency industry, proving that stricter regulations are needed. It is also a major lesson for the Pi Core Team as we transition from Open Network to Open Mainnet," he tweeted.

Some Pi Network platform users defended it, emphasizing a roadmap focused on utility and avoiding speculative hype. However, Dr Altcoin still stressed concerns about the lack of transparency.

"One thing is clear about PCT, they are not transparent," he added.

However, the large Pi community remains optimistic. The Pi Open Mainnet account, introduced as a pioneer, posted a rebuttal explaining why Pi could avoid OM's fate. They emphasized slow token issuance strategy and the absence of large early sale events as central factors creating that confidence.

"Large community (over 35 million pioneers), stable unlockup, increasing utility (.pi domains, dapps), and clean profile," they wrote.

Indeed, Pi's ecosystem is expanding. Integration with Chainlink, new fiat on-ramps, and Pi Ads are creating what the team calls a "virtuous cycle" of adoption and utility, according to the Pi Open Mainnet 2025 account, a senior pioneer.

"These advances constitute a virtuous cycle for Pi Network. Easier fiat on-ramps bring more users (Pi community is near 60 million), Pi Ads drive more applications and utilities, and Chainlink integration adds trust and interoperability. More users → more utilities," it declared.

With a community reportedly near 60 million, many believe the project has a strong user-driven foundation, unlike OM's more centralized momentum.

Is this enough to prevent an OM-like fate?

However, not everyone believes this will be sufficient. Mahidhar Crypto, a Pi Coin validator, calls on users to withdraw Pi coins from centralized exchanges (CEXs) to prevent price manipulation.

"We've seen what happened with OM—how market makers dump on users...When you send your Pi Coins to CEX, market makers will use bots to create fake buy/sell walls to manipulate price or liquidation," they warned.

This aligns with recent concerns about collusion between market makers and CEXs. Mahidhar also calls on the Pi Core Team to thoroughly check KYB-verified businesses and avoid listing Pi derivatives on CEXs, due to leverage trading risks on developing assets.

Adding to the skepticism is on-chain behavior related to OM. Trading Digits, a technical analysis company, points out that the "Pi Cycle Top" indicator, a pattern typically signaling market tops, was triggered twice for OM since 2024, with the most recent occurrence just two months before its collapse.

"Coincidence or inevitable?" the company asked.

Will Pi follow a disciplined path, prioritizing utility, or potentially fall into similar traps that caused OM's collapse?

Data from BeInCrypto shows that Pi Network's PI coin is trading at $0.74 at the time of writing, down 1.36% in the past 24 hours.