1/9) WARNING: PI is a scam! ⚠️
We expose Ponzi & MLM-style designs & that 83% of the supply is controlled by the team!
Claiming decentralization: Yet totally centralized, even requiring KYC for TXs!
Their "mobile mining" scheme is also a gimmick with no legitimate purpose: 🧵
2/9) Claiming decentralization while being centralized (permissioned) is a massive red flag 🚩
Delivering a mainnet five years behind schedule with ZERO innovation is another 🚩
PI claims to be a revolutionary new decentralized crypto; nothing could be further from the truth...
3/9) PI's core tech was simply copied from Stellar (another permissioned chain)
Even though the documentation is a total mess! (another red flag) 🚩
We can conclude that PI is not scalable nor even programmable, as it lacks a Turing-complete VM!
Making DeFi a pipedream for PI
4/9) PI has deployed a "Multi-Level Marketing" type scheme through referral programs
Kicking back 25% of the "mining" reward back
PI "mining" does not contribute to consensus... So it has a massive cost while providing ZERO return! 🚩
Except for luring in ignorant investors...
5/9) To make things worse, there is an additional Ponzi-like mechanism within PI similar to HEX!
Where users lock up their PI for several years to increase their "mining" rate...
This has the effect of locking victims into PI & pumping price: Providing the exit for insiders! 🚩
6/9) Talking about insiders...
The team has a 20% allocation + all future "mining" rewards are controlled by the team!
It is all unlocked! As the 3 "validators" are controlled by the team & they can veto the "DAO"
Putting total supply controlled by the team at over 83% now! 🚩
7/9) These mechanisms are not strictly speaking by definition "MLM" & "Ponzi"
As crypto has put its own twist on the formula
In crypto, the variations on these scams are, in fact, worse!
As in a traditional Ponzi, the scammers need to carefully balance paying out old investors
8/9) That is not the case in crypto, as we can utilize a "token money printer" while locking it up!
So the scammer ends up making way more money in the crypto version of the scam
The same is true for the "MLM" as there is no real product in this case: It is all smoke & mirrors!
9/9) That PI made it into the top 50 is an embarrassment to our industry
We identified 6 major red flags after only 1 day of research
Exposing 3 types of scams, digging deeper will likely reveal even more
Speak out against PI; we must self-police, as crypto deserves better! 💪
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