Is Pi Network (PI) The Biggest Crypto Scam of 2025 or Just Controversial? (Detailed Investigation)

TL;DR

• Pi Network has been in existence for roughly half a decade, but only recently officially launched, and its native token began trading. It has always been a victim of enhanced scrutiny and controversy, but also growing popularity.
• Here’s a breakdown by Garland on X, who claimed that they unraveled why Pi Network is a massive scam.

Is Pi Network a Scam?

The post began with a brief and ironic explanation of the promises made by the team behind the project, mostly to be the future of crypto mining, which can be done on almost any phone. “No fees, no risks, just free tokens and “coming soon” dreams,” said Garland.

However, the user said Pi has presented numerous red flags, not only the countless mainnet delays. One of them is a big user data leak in Vietnam back in 2021. Garland also mentioned Ben Zhou, the CEO of Bybit, who slammed the project after its mainnet launch this year and subsequent token crash.

At the time, Bybit’s top exec pointed to a 2023 warning from the Chinese authorities that alleged it was a scam and added that his company has no intention to list the PI token.

Furthermore, Garland lashed out at Pi Network’s claim that they have 60 million active users, saying there are almost no active wallets and the whole scheme runs on “referral loops, not real usage.”

They claim “60M users.”

Reality?

Almost no active wallets.

The whole thing runs on referral loops, not real usage.

And now, even the community is waking up.

Now everyone sees it.

— Garland (@garlandflips) May 20, 2025

PI’s Price Collapse

The project’s native token has gone through some extremely volatile periods, even though it has been live for trading for just a few months. After launch, it shot up to a new all-time high of almost $3 before it dumped to an all-time low of $0.4 in early April.

In the past couple of weeks, it skyrocketed to $1.7 before it crumbled to $0.6 amid a hype announcement and a classic ‘sell the news’ event. Citing information from Dr. Picoin, a “respected Pi insider,” Garland said the team behind the protocol pumped the token’s price only to dump their holdings to retail investors.

Wallet GABT7EMP…4GC5G is the one to watch.

Massive outflows exactly during the pump window.

Piscan shows clear exits.

If you’ve seen rugs before, you know the pattern.

Retail was bait, exit liquidity. pic.twitter.com/Cyfap0oD1J

— Garland (@garlandflips) May 20, 2025

Garland concluded that the Pi Network team is simply distracting the crowd with vague promises, while “insiders are quietly draining liquidity.”