How the Pi virtual currency has changed after two weeks of “listing on the floor”.

In the final days of 2022, the PI/USDT trading pair was listed on a number of exchanges. However, contrary to many people’s expectation that Pi can be sold for cash, the Pi currency is actually created by the exchange itself in the form of an IOU (I Owe You) debit slip. This means that the exchange will create an initial list of digital currencies for users to trade and then pay real money when the project officially launches.

After XT, Huobi, BitMart, there are now about 10 exchanges, mostly small unknown exchanges, listing the Pi/USDT pair, which became one of the hottest topics in the cryptocurrency market in early 2023.

However, the developers of the Pi network claim to be neither involved nor are the Pi coins on the exchange connected to the actual Pi project. After initial interest, “fake” Pi gradually lost its appeal on exchanges.

Prices keep falling

After the listing, the Pi’s market price sometimes rose to over $350. However, this trend only lasted for the first few days and then continued to decline. According to CoinMarketCap stats as of noon on January 14, Pi’s value is currently around $60, down 5-6x in two weeks. Pi’s daily trading volume of $300 million also fell 100 times to $3 million.

Even on some smaller exchanges like XT, Biconomy, Pi, the price is currently at $4, which is 20 times lower than the peak of $70 set on the above exchanges.

These are separate Pi coins that are not linked to each other or to the amount of Pi that users have “mined” through the Pi Network app on their phones, so there is a potential risk for participants.

“Currently, the exchange does not allow Pi deposits and withdrawals, which means users cannot transfer Pi from their phone to the exchange. So if you want to own, users need to register an account, deposit money in exchange and buy Pi,” commented Duk Nhat, a longtime cryptocurrency investor from Ho Chi Minh City. According to him, users can still make a profit by waiting for these coins to rise in price on the floor and then converting them to USDT. However, due to the steady downward price trend in the past, users who are not in a hurry easily get into a losing situation.

Also, the price of the Pi is determined by the exchange itself, so it is completely manipulated by the “shark” or the developer, and the user cannot control this risk. “If they had bought the stock in the early days of the listing, they would have lost hundreds of dollars on Pi now, not to mention transaction costs,” Nhat said.

Controversy over bringing the Pi to the ground

The listing of Pi on the stock exchange is part of the roadmap for the Pi Network project. However, the timeline is still unknown, as the project has repeatedly stated that it will only happen after entering the “open core network” phase. The Pi network has now only been in the “closed mainnet” phase for more than a year, namely for the exchange of goods on Pi between Pi KYC holders.

In late December 2022, Huobi took its first shots when it announced that it would “consider creating a Pi listing based on community suggestions.” Despite announcing that the Pi network will upgrade the main network, just three days later, Huobi unexpectedly listed a token called Pi, although there is nothing new in the project. Later the same was done on some other floors.

This prompted the developer of the Pi Network project to come out on December 31, 2022, stating that it does not partner with or allow listings and warn of the risk of harming users if their investment is private.

A day later, Huobi owner Justin Sun asked on Twitter if registering the Pi was “the right decision.” Out of more than 25,000 votes, 57.4% voted to the right. However, under the article, most of the comments still appreciate Huobi’s work to benefit from the exchange.

“Guys, you entered the list without permission from the Pi-Network. This obfuscates metrics like capitalization, supply and gives you complete control over how you see fit, even stealing liquidity,” commented Twitter user Nicky.

Tran Van Phuc, admin of the Vietnam digital currency community, believes that the above Pi listings are actually a way to attract exchange users by leveraging interested Pi networks. He considers this a serious move and advises investors not to invest in this exchange. “The stock market is a place where people can trust and save money to trade. They need sincerity in all their actions. However, the above exchanges create their own Pi to mislead and seduce people. Join us,” said Mr. Fox.

In the Vietnamese community, the list of “fake” pis has also caused controversy. Despite believing that this is against the rules of the Pi Network, others see it as an opportunity to attract more Pi miners to the network.

Mr. Ngo Minh Hyeu, founder of the anti-phishing project, said he has documented instances where he has used information that “pi walks cost hundreds of dollars” to invite people to join pi networks or invite others to purchase and to entice sales of Pi. . deal with real money through underground transactions. According to Mr Hey.

On January 11th, the people behind the Pi Network continued to issue alerts advising the Pi mining community not to interact with any of the above exchanges and saying they had asked the exchange to remove Pi before it was licensed.

Pi Network is a project launched in 2019 to help users own the virtual currency Pi for free by logging into the app on their phones every day. The project has 35 million users worldwide. In mid-2022, the project will enter a “closed network” phase, allowing Pi holders with verified identities to trade goods with each other. However, buying and selling virtual currencies violates Vietnamese law. Before entering the open network phase, the current price of Pi was zero.

Luu Kui