Written by Yangz, Techub News
Earlier today, the news that OKX will launch PI caused a stir in the industry. Regarding the launch of a "project" that is definitely a pyramid scheme, Techub News contacted OKX PR, but the other party refused to comment. At the same time, Bitget also followed OKX's steps and announced that it would launch PI.
Speaking of PI (picoin or π coin), everyone in the industry must know that it is a typical pyramid scheme that specifically "harvests" the middle-aged and elderly groups. The project claims to be launched by a Stanford University PhD entrepreneur, and teaches and preaches to the elderly in the name of "public welfare", claiming that you only need to download the APP on your mobile phone and perform simple operations to mine for free.
According to a report by Blue Whale Finance last year, the so-called "mining" only requires lighting up the lightning icon on the homepage of the "π coin" application every 24 hours. Once the operation is completed, the π coins will gradually increase. There is no technical content and no capital investment required. Coupled with the MLM rhetoric of "using π to buy cars and houses" that is bombarded in the community, many middle-aged and elderly people have been deceived into the game over the years.
Although police in cities such as Wuxi have repeatedly warned against such pyramid schemes, saying that criminals use "free" and "gifts" as gimmicks to attract profiteering people to download software, and then sweeten the situation by offering low operating thresholds, no capital investment, and a small amount of "π coins" as gifts to victims, in order to expand the victim group by rewarding them with new members and defraud them of their money, the middle-aged and elderly people who lack judgment find it difficult to realize that behind the ever-increasing number of π coins, there is no withdrawal channel at all. The so-called offer from the own mall that 100 π coins can be exchanged for a Rolls-Royce is just a scam.
However, today, OKX announced that it will launch the Pi Network token PI spot trading on February 20, which completely shocked the entire industry. Compared with the Pi community, which must be very noisy at this moment, the cryptocurrency community is mostly "silent" about this magical news, except for the self-deprecation and jokes from young investors who "want to make friends with grandpa and aunt". Many investors said they couldn't understand it and lamented that "the crypto market has changed."
On the one hand, the cryptocurrency community despises the Pi community, and on the other hand, Pi seems to dislike the cryptocurrency community. @0xJaleel_eth shared, "Two worlds, no one looks down on each other." He said that the current Pi community even looks down on OKX and is not interested in listing on the exchange at all, because they have their own barter market. In addition, @0xJaleel_eth shared some information about the current Pi community. He said, "The circulation of Pi is very small, and KYC requires a long wait. Secondly, most accounts that pass KYC are in a state of waiting to be "mapped to the main network." In a group of 500 people, only one ordinary person with a relatively small number of coins has successfully "mapped to the main network", and only by mapping to the main network can the coins be transferred out. The mapping rules are very black box operations."
Wu said the founder of the blockchain also suggested on X not to report on Pi-related situations. He said, "MLM-related industry chains are all targets of severe crackdowns. Everyone should have some legal knowledge. It doesn't mean that you are lucky if it hasn't happened. It will be a disaster for the whole family if it happens once."
From Trump issuing TRUMP before his official inauguration to the President of the Central African Republic suspected of following suit and issuing CAR a few days ago, the current cryptocurrency circle has stunned many "old investors" and even made them think of "quitting the circle". Previously, there were DeFi and NFT in the cryptocurrency circle, but now, in addition to the Bitcoin ecosystem and AI agent narratives that have already shown signs of decline, all you can see is Memecoin, which has suddenly risen and may be cut in half (according to a report by the cryptocurrency intelligence platform Merkle Science, cryptocurrency investors lost more than $500 million in the Memecoin scam in 2024).
Many people believe that Memecoin represents retail investors’ rebellion against the traditional VC model. Through Memecoin, ordinary investors are no longer passive buyers, but can unite to promote collective action and form new market rules. However, if this concept is used by bad people, the spirit of decentralization, which was originally a tool for ordinary investors to resist traditional financial monopoly, may eventually be distorted.
When everyone is shouting about the "attention economy" such as Memecoin, and the listing of coins on exchanges has become the focus of public opinion, it also exposes the problem of the current market lacking practical applications and new capital inflows. As @tmel0211 pointed out, "TRUMP's mess sucked away a lot of liquidity in the industry, and PI coin took away the industry's only remaining moral "superiority". The once proud dream of decentralization, transparency, and breaking the traditional financial structure may no longer be persisted by many people.
Amid the shock, there are of course some different voices. Some X users said that although the nature of the project itself is questionable, it has undoubtedly brought in users, just like the early Bitcoin, if it hadn't been for the "persistence of pyramid schemes", it would not have come this far. The author believes that "bringing in users" is not a justification for its existence, and the obvious "pyramid scheme projects" supported by the top exchanges with huge influence in the industry should be firmly resisted. The development of Web3 requires the most basic bottom line. It is a fact that the development of the industry itself lacks a sense of direction, but please remember that "the evil of heaven can be defied, but the evil of one's own actions cannot be survived."
