Let's talk about my views on the crazy rise of pi.
The cryptocurrency space has lost some 'pyramid scheme' aspects.
Everyone may know that the changes in the cryptocurrency space in recent years have been quite significant. In the past, especially around 2017-2019, the cryptocurrency space was as hot as the bottom of a hot pot, very hot, with many people 'speculating' on various cryptocurrencies. Back then, projects in the cryptocurrency space often relied on what? They relied on communities! And these communities were basically like pyramid schemes, with everyone recruiting others, recommending people, completing tasks, and receiving rewards, all to get more people to join in, and money was passed up layer by layer. Whether it was serious VC investments or wild coins, there were communities. The most classic example is **(some place)** **(some coin)** **(some person)** community, for instance, the Shenzhen ABC coin Er Gou community, where people chatted about all sorts of things every day.
Speaking of the past cryptocurrency space, how many people came for the technology? I think very few. Most projects back then didn't have any real value behind them; many people were just focused on short-term profits, entering a cryptocurrency community, joining a WeChat group, and then everyone in the group was recruiting others and recommending each other. The price of this coin kept rising, but behind it was not any technological innovation; it was fundamentally a 'recruitment' model. The money you invested often didn't actually go into the project itself but became the money of subsequent investors.

Then Pangu appeared. Why did Pangu become popular? Because there were no referral rewards, people were recruiting voluntarily, and it was called preaching back then. I remember at that time, the TRX-OSK and TRX-FIST pools had hundreds of millions of dollars.

First, I declare that I hold pi, 189 of which I mined myself and haven't successfully mapped yet, so I feel my words are purely objective.

I see many people saying pi is a pyramid scheme, just like many people say speculating on coins is illegal.
First, let's clarify the definition of a pyramid scheme: According to the State Council Order No. 444 (Prohibition of Pyramid Selling Regulations), a pyramid scheme refers to: the organizer or operator develops personnel, calculating and paying rewards based on the number of directly or indirectly developed personnel or sales performance, or requiring the developed personnel to pay a certain fee to obtain the qualification for joining, to obtain illegal benefits and disrupt economic order, affecting social stability.

Pi has not charged a penny from anyone below, so it does not constitute a pyramid scheme. Just like Pangu does not constitute one either; Pangu also ran away. Of course, these laws only apply to regions like Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai; places like Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, and Sichuan should have their own laws (there's no regional bias here; you should understand what I mean).

Regarding the notion that pi is just air, awareness needs to be strengthened. I've been in the circle for 2 years and learned a saying that I still stick on my wall.
"Resistance, disregard, fear of difficulty, laziness, and prejudice are the five cardinal sins of the cryptocurrency space."
Compared to pi, what I find harder to understand is why the dev created a concept that quickly ran away, with a large number of rat traders pouring into it, like a flesh toilet being praised by many retail investors who can't even make money.
I'm pretty happy for pi because many people have persisted for four or five years until now, which seems meaningful and quite beautiful, provided there aren't many rat traders.
But to be honest, I also don't recommend everyone to take over pi coin because I know the people are still the same, and the coin is no longer the same coin.
The last glory of the pyramid scheme sector, haha.

The cryptocurrency space is no longer as chaotic as before. With regulatory policies gradually strengthening, more and more compliant projects are coming to the forefront. These projects are starting to focus more on technology, innovation, and practical applications; people are no longer simply speculating on coins or recruiting others, but are looking at the core technology of the projects and making long-term investments. But ironically, the excitement has diminished; there's less of that pyramid scheme flavor, and everyone is very rational. The times have changed, just like how the festive atmosphere has faded in previous years.

If you could go back, would you want to go back?