Pi Network’s native token, PI, dropped more than 65% following the project’s highly anticipated mainnet launch.
On Feb. 20, Pi Network announced that its “Open Network” had officially launched. The project said this allowed users to access centralized exchanges and other businesses beyond its ecosystem..
At the same time, the project listed the PI token on some crypto trading platforms. Bitget, OKX and MEXC opened trading for the asset on Feb. 20.
With users allowed to trade their tokens, the price of PI quickly plummeted from a high of $1.84 to $0.64 at the time of writing.
Pi Network’s price chart. Source: CoinGecko
CEO Ben Zhou says Bybit will not list PI
While some exchanges listed the PI token, Bybit took a different stance. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou posted on X, accusing the project of being a scam.
Zhou cited a warning from the Chinese police. In 2023, Chinese authorities warned users to stay away from the project, describing it as a “scam” that targeted the elderly.
Zhou challenged the Pi Network team to address the reports questioning the project’s legitimacy. He also said Bybit did not request to list the PI token. He wrote:
“Bybit had made no listing request to $PI and the claim that $PI refused Bybit listing or Bybit did not pass some sort of KYB of $PI is completely nonsense.”
The Bybit executive made it clear that the exchange has no plans to list the Pi Network token.
Cointelegraph reached out to Pi Network for comments but received no response before publication.
Source: Ben Zhou
Related: The truth about Pi coin: Could it be the next Bitcoin?
Pi Network allows users to mine cryptocurrency directly from their mobile phones, unlike traditional mining methods that require energy-intensive hardware.
The project claims to have amassed over 60 million users. However, blockchain explorers only show 9.1 million users.
While the project also claims to be decentralized, the network is still controlled by its core team, without any signs of independent validators joining the network.
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