Summary: The PI coin, regarded as the largest Ponzi scheme coin in China and Southeast Asia, plummeted 60% within a week, and the hopes for the launch of the desired DaPP ecosystem have been dashed. Pi Network is facing a trust crisis.
FX168 Financial News (Asia Pacific) reported that on Monday (May 19), PI coin was struggling around $0.7375. The market speculates that the main reason for the 60% plunge of PI coin in a week is that the official major announcement did not meet community expectations. The Pi Network, regarded as the largest Ponzi scheme coin in China and Southeast Asia, is facing a trust crisis, and the originally expected decentralized application (DaPP) ecosystem launch has failed.
One week after the launch of PI coin, the highest price had approached $3, but now the price is only $0.7375. Entering April, PI coin oscillated in the $0.6000 range for more than a month. Until May, there were rumors in the community that the Pi Network official would make a significant announcement at the Toronto Consensus 2025 conference, briefly restarting the price surge, which once rose to $1.6700. However, the price then fell sharply.
(Source: OKX)
The large user community of Pi Network has high expectations for this event, with many anticipating the announcement of large-scale DaPPs for the launch of PI coin, expanding the currently barren ecosystem.
However, the significant news announced by the Pi Network core team at the meeting was the establishment of Pi Network Ventures: an ecological fund of $100 million aimed at supporting builders within the Pi Network ecosystem, which led to a significant gap between community expectations and reality, resulting in a rapid spread of disappointment.
Twitter opinion leader Dr. Altcoin wrote: 'After six years of dedication, mining, promotion, and waiting, the pioneers are looking forward to a thriving ecosystem. However, we have learned that most of the promised 100 DaPPs have not been realized, and now we will use $100 million in funds to build them.'
Another community user mocked that the Pi Network Ventures' ecological fund amounts to $100 million, but the application method is collected through a Google form. For a project that has been built for six years and is ambitious, this approach is a 'Big Shame.'
(Source: Twitter)
The official team of Pi Network did not accomplish nothing at the Consensus 2025 conference; they outlined some future technical development directions for the project, such as planning AI tools, exploring decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) applications, and promoting a network upgrade called Horizon. Pi Network co-founder Dr. Nicolas Kokkalis also stated that the centralized nodes of the network have been removed, paving the way for more comprehensive decentralization.
But clearly, these actions cannot meet the expectations of the large community in the short term. If Pi Network hopes to successfully emerge from the current trust quagmire and move towards a grander vision, adopting a more open and transparent communication strategy, actively and effectively responding to the community's reasonable concerns, and demonstrating the fairness and openness of its operations through concrete actions and verifiable progress have become urgent tasks.
WOO X Research previously discussed the valuation of PI coin, mentioning that Pi Network is a new type of digital cryptocurrency that uses mobile devices as a platform and focuses on low-barrier participation. Unlike traditional Bitcoin mining, which requires significant power consumption and specialized equipment, Pi Network allows users to 'mine' through a mobile app, greatly reducing the technical and cost barriers, enabling more ordinary people to participate in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
