Bybit CEO Ben Zhou Calls Pi Network's PI Token a 'Scam,' Says Exchange Will Not List It

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou said Thursday that his exchange will not list the Pi Network's PI token, which was controversially released on Thursday

Crypto exchange Bybit will not list the Pi Network (PI) token, which was finally released Thursday after years of anticipation.

The exchange's CEO, Ben Zhou, cited a 2023 warning from Chinese police that alleged the project was a scam targeting elderly people, leading to the loss of their pensions and the leaking of their personal information.

"There are multiple other reports out there questioning the project legitimacy," Zhou wrote on X. "Yes, I still think you are a scam, and no, Bybit will not list scam."

1. Here is a official police warning of $Pi from Chinese police back in 2023 warning to the public that it’s a scam targeted towards elderly folks https://t.co/LaGJqXSOXR which leaks their personal data and loss of their pension. There are multiple other reports out there… https://t.co/gkEu2wZwfo

The Pi Network did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for comment.

The token went live together with the project's mainnet launch Thursday. Users who "mined" tokens by clicking a button on their smartphone screen once a day were finally able to transfer and sell the tokens.

Meanwhile, Zhou found himself at the center of a separate zbo issue Friday, with his exchange, Bybit, being named as the victim of a $1.5 billion hack by North Korea's Lazarus Group.

The PI token debuted on OKX at $0.67, rose to a high of $2 and then fell 65% to currently trade at around $0.69.

One zbo issue that raised concerns was a marketing tactic that rewarded users who recruited other users to the project. Each time a user convinced someone else to sign up using their code, the first person's "mining" rewards were increased. The concept drew some comparisons to the 2017 Ponzi scheme Bitconnect.

"Pi Network is the biggest ponzi [scheme]," X user CryptoBeast alleged, posting to their 656K followers.

The project also offered users the option of locking their tokens for up to three years. In return, they were promised increased rewards. This same technique was central to the Hex project, whose founder, Richard Schueler, known online as Richard Heart, is wanted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly defrauding his investors, among other charges.

The token has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion based on a circulating supply of 6.33 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. However, due to its inflationary nature, the maximum supply is 100 billion, giving it a fully diluted value (FDV) of a staggering $67 billion at the current price. At launch, the FDV reached as high as $200 billion, nearly double that of Solana.

Despite the concerns raised, some exchanges have listed the token. According to CoinMarketCap, OKX, Bitget and Gate have together seen a total of $620 million in trading volume for PI trading pairs.

Read more: Pi Network's Token Debuts at $195B Value Despite Minimal Liquidity