Original | Odaily @OdailyChina
Author | Golem (@web3_golem)
The greatest distance in the world is when I stand in front of you, but you insist on convincing me that Pi is a scam.
On February 12, the top global exchange OKX announced that it would open USDT deposits for PI (Pi), and when the Pi Network mainnet goes live on February 20, it will also open the PI/USDT spot trading. This news has triggered a series of butterfly effects. Not only have multiple exchanges subsequently announced support for PI, causing the 6-year-old Pi, which has been repeatedly labeled as a "pyramid scheme" during its development and often mocked by the Crypto Native group, to once again become the focus of public opinion. Even the "largest exchange in the universe" Binance was infected, launching a 10-day vote yesterday on whether users want PI to be listed on Binance.
Veteran players familiar with the Web3 world are surprised that the criticized Pi coin, which was accused of being a single-machine mining project without any on-chain verification, actually has a mainnet, and sigh that exchanges like OKX are supporting this high-risk project for user growth; the masses who have participated in Pi believe that the arrogant crypto industry players have not mined Pi, do not understand Pi at all, and can only repost related memes, full of prejudice against Pi - "If you don't believe me, I don't have time to convince you."
So, what is the real Pi like? It is difficult for us who have not truly integrated into the Pi community to know. The last tweet from the founders of Pi Network on the X platform was posted on September 21, 2021. The only channels to understand the official activities of Pi are the official blog and the official X account, and the core team and organizational members are shrouded in mystery, with rumors that there have been major personnel changes over the years of operation.
The current off-market price of PI coins fluctuates between 2-5 USDT, and "manual order placement" tables occasionally appear in WeChat groups.
According to the official blog, Pi Network will officially launch the mainnet on February 20, allowing PI to interact with other networks and applications. However, the PI coins mined through mobile devices must go through KYC and successfully migrate to the mainnet before they can be transferred or traded independently.
As the launch approaches and faces "authenticity verification", in order to help readers better understand the full picture of Pi, Odaily interviewed two "veteran Pi friends" to learn how they joined and viewed Pi, their price expectations for PI, and their next operational plans... to glimpse a slice of the Pi story from the perspective of the participants.
(Note: The interviewees are all using pseudonyms. This article does not constitute investment advice.)
Ayao: The elderly are relatively persistent and not so restless
Ayao has been persistently mining PI coins for 1,694 days (nearly 5 years) since 2019, and has previously promoted Pi to hundreds of people on the Internet, but later gave up due to the inability to cash out and find new opportunities, and is now continuously purchasing PI coins in the OTC market.
Odaily: How did you first come across Pi?
Ayao: I came across Pi while playing "the plate". At the time, I learned about the project through promotional information in WeChat groups, and seeing that the founders had a background from Stanford University, and that it was free to register and participate, I decided to give it a try.
Odaily: Is the actual mining process and threshold for Pi high?
Ayao: The threshold for Pi is relatively low. In the beginning, you didn't even need "science", just a daily check-in, and you could easily participate in mining, but the mined coins couldn't be withdrawn or traded. But starting from the closed mainnet phase (December 28, 2021), completing KYC and migrating to the mainnet allows you to transfer the coins, although due to domestic policies, KYC has always been quite difficult.
Odaily: Mining PI coins requires signing in every 24 hours, what made you persist in mining PI coins for 5 years?
Ayao: First, I was quite optimistic about the blockchain and digital currency industry, believing there was an opportunity for low-cost wealth; second, the background of Pi's founders was well-promoted at the time, and in 2019 a project with a Stanford University background was very valuable; third, mining PI coins was free, with no capital cost, and only required a simple daily click; finally, there was a promotion mechanism in Pi, the more people you invited, the faster the mining speed, so many people formed a community, "brainwashing" each other within the group, forming a deep-rooted consensus, making many people willing to invest in the long run.
Odaily: Is Pi's promotion a pyramid scheme model?
Ayao: Pi's promotion model is not like a "plate" with a strict hierarchical structure, the motivation for promotion is more self-driven to increase mining speed, many people promote it because of the reputation of the top university and famous professor, and there is only a 1-level referral mining bonus. Initially, some communities would translate the English tutorials into Chinese to spread the promotion, but as people saw no returns for a long time, many groups gradually disbanded or were banned.
Odaily: Have you participated in any offline activities or gatherings?
Ayao: I personally lean more towards online promotion, so I haven't really participated in offline gatherings. But Pi does have offline activities, previously there were promotion teams that liked to organize meetings for the elderly, maybe because it's not easy to teach online.
Odaily: In your promotion process, was the proportion of young people higher or the elderly?
Ayao: Initially, there were more young people, as the materials were in English at first. But young people are often more restless, and if they don't see returns in the short term, they easily lose patience and give up. Later, as Chinese materials were improved and some "plate" organizations came in to promote Pi, the proportion of the elderly increased. The elderly are relatively persistent and not so restless. Even after some "plates" withdrew, the elderly friends did not lose confidence and continued to promote it to their friends and family.
Odaily: How do you view the overwhelming negative reports about Pi?
Ayao: It depends on each person's perception. Even though Bitcoin was heavily banned in China before, there are still people playing it. Pi itself is free to participate, and previously it was not even circulating, so the actual risk is not that high. However, malicious acts are inevitable, and fraud exists in every industry and project, but they are individual cases. When we were promoting at the time, we focused on free mining, not asking participants to buy virtual currencies.
And the elderly usually promote through family and friends channels, because they know each other well, the probability of cheating each other is low.
Odaily: How do you feel now that Pi has gained the recognition of mainstream exchanges? What are your next steps?
Ayao: I feel very excited, and I also see a lot of Pi friends "celebrating" on their Moments. Although I haven't been deeply involved for about a year, seeing Pi coins being recognized by mainstream exchanges, especially being listed on OKX, is exciting.
Now, the proportion of Pi users who have completed KYC is small, and even fewer have migrated their coins to the mainnet. None of the people I know have completed this step yet. So most people actually don't have any coins. I plan to first purchase a base position.
Odaily: What price expectations do you have for PI coins after they go live?
Ayao: On OKX, the price should be at least 9 USDT or above to be considered a successful first step, if not, I would basically judge the project as a failure.
Odaily: Do you think Pi will become the second largest existence after Bitcoin in the future?
Arao: Pi's vision is grand, aiming to build a global payment system where users can directly use Pi coins for transactions around the world without the need to convert to other fiat currencies. However, there is currently a lot of controversy around Pi online. Although Pi's network performance is indeed not as good as Solana's, if Pi succeeds, its price will definitely overturn everyone's cognition. I think its success probability is over 70%.
Deyou: Pi is essentially a zero-mining project, and its user base has already surpassed many chains
Deyou has been participating in Pi network mining and promotion since 2019, having mined for nearly 2000 consecutive days and promoted to over a thousand people.
Odaily: Can you briefly introduce Pi in one sentence?
Deyou: Pi is a revolution, or an innovation in Web3, initiated by a senior blockchain professor at Stanford University in the US.
Odaily: When did you first get in touch with Pi?
Deyou: I got in touch with Pi in August 2019, and have been mining continuously for nearly 2000 days now. But I started participating in the crypto circle as early as 2015, learning about Pi through WeChat groups and friends' circles, and after in-depth research, I believed it was a good project, so I also promoted it to over 1000 people.
Odaily: What are the reasons for your persistence in mining and promoting Pi?
Deyou: The reason I promote it is on the one hand to accelerate the mining output, and on the other hand because it's called "Pi", which gives me the feeling that it's a good project, otherwise it wouldn't be called the circle constant. Moreover, the project team has been persisting for so many years, and I and the subordinates below haven't invested a penny, just doing part-time promotion, so why not persist?
Odaily: Do you have any offline activities or gatherings?
Deyou: I started doing offline promotion in 2020, and the reason I don't promote online is that I feel the information is interconnected, and those who should have registered online have already done so, so I started with the people around me.
But my team basically doesn't have any offline gatherings, and I haven't participated in any large-scale offline activities either, because the people I promote are mainly my friends and acquaintances. However, there used to be a lot of activities in the Sichuan and Kunming areas, but now that the mainnet is about to be launched, the conference activities have become less.
Odaily: How does your promotion team operate?
Deyou: My team mainly relies on me for publicity and promotion. I used to have 10,700 direct subordinates in another industry, but not all of them have converted to mining Pi. The Pi miners are all people I've promoted one by one from my friends around me, so there's no strong organization.
I have close to 2000 team leader friends who mine Pi, but the team leader position is not a strict job setting. Anyone with the ability to promote and wants to mine more Pi coins can become a team leader, without having to invest anything other than time, and there's no extra monetary incentive either.
Odaily: How do you view the overwhelming negative reports about Pi?
Deyou: I think the reported things may not be accurate. Bitcoin was also once considered a Ponzi scheme, but today it's legal in many countries. Pi is essentially a zero-mining project, and the project team has never required mandatory fees, but some people have engaged in inducement fraud in the promotion process, which is absolutely illegal.
However, there are almost no victims of fraud around me, because they are all under my management and won't come into contact with outsiders.
Odaily: How do you feel after Pi being recognized by mainstream exchanges?
Deyou: I'm a Buddhist-style miner, even if it's not worth anything, it's paying for my initial heart. If it's worth money, it's just a small fortune for me. But I think the launch of the mainnet is the thing to be happy about, the payoff for five or six years of effort. I won't withdraw the mined coins to the exchange, I'll follow the project team's footsteps.
Odaily: Are there many people in your team who have migrated to the mainnet?
Deyou: Most of my team have passed KYC, but less than 20% have migrated to the mainnet, with the majority locked up for 1 or 3 years.
Odaily: Are there more people coming to you to learn how to mine Pi now? What age group are the new users in?
Deyou: First of all, the number of people has definitely increased, but the new players brought by this wave of enthusiasm are still mostly middle-aged people, as the older ones don't know what's happening online.
Odaily: Are you organizing any over-the-counter trading? What are your price expectations for PI's listing on exchanges?
Deyou: If there is demand, I can help with over-the-counter trading, mainly through WeChat, with an average transaction price of around 50 yuan per coin.
Exchanges are just a place for hype, and their prices don't really need to be paid attention to. According to the "will of the authorities", PI's price will ultimately not be lower than $314,159, because the authorities will ultimately support barter trade, and if the price is too low, it won't be able to support the ecosystem.
Odaily: What are your expectations for the future of the Pi project?
Deyou: I think it should at least support barter trade, Pi has its own mall where all the merchants are self-employed. And I'm one of the 28,000 merchants, and in the future I'll be selling my winery's wine on it.
Odaily: Do you think Pi will become the second largest existence after Bitcoin?
Deyou: Bitcoin will always be the big brother, I've also bought Bitcoin before, but I don't know much about it overall. But as a little brother, Pi has its own unique potential and uses, and although it can't replace Bitcoin, its future prospects are very good, and Pi's user base has already surpassed many chains in the blockchain.
