On the evening of March 9, the Pi token from the Pi Network project experienced a sharp price drop, falling to $1.23 per token before rebounding to around $1.50 by the morning of March 10.

This unexpected decline occurred amid rising tensions between Pi Network supporters and Bybit, a top global cryptocurrency exchange.

Bybit’s CEO, Ben Zhou, has been vocal in his criticism of Pi Network, labeling it "more dangerous than memecoins". According to him, Pi Network targets users with little knowledge of cryptocurrency, creating unrealistic expectations about the token’s potential.

He also pointed out that despite Pi being listed on multiple crypto exchanges, the team behind Pi Network remains largely anonymous.

"They mention someone from Stanford, but you've never actually seen them or heard them publicly discuss the project," Ben Zhou remarked.

He further suggested that the founders of Pi Network should appear publicly, perhaps through a livestream, to provide more clarity on the project’s legitimacy.

Following these statements, Pi Network’s community launched a coordinated attack on Bybit’s app on Google Play Store, flooding it with one-star reviews and negative comments. Many Pi Network supporters accused Bybit of being biased against Pi and questioned its security.

Among the negative reviews, some users wrote:

“Bybit has poor security, hackers can easily attack it.”
“The exchange is done for, criticizing Pi Network will bring bad karma.”
“Bybit is a scam and disrespects Pi Network.”
“What proof does Bybit have to call Pi a scam?”

As a result of this backlash, Bybit’s Google Play Store rating dropped from nearly 5 stars to 2.7 stars within hours.

Despite the surge of criticism, Bybit remained composed in its responses, stating: "Thank you for your feedback. Bybit carefully evaluates all tokens before listing. Our team conducts thorough reviews to ensure a safe trading environment for our users. Please check our official listing announcements for updates."

This is not the first time Pi Network’s supporters have aggressively targeted critics or crypto exchanges.

When Vietnam Blockchain Alliance Chairman Dang Minh Tuan published an analysis questioning Pi Network’s transparency on Facebook, he was attacked with personal insults from Pi Network supporters, prompting him to issue a public warning.

Additionally, Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, was also bombarded with one-star reviews after its community vote on listing Pi ended with the exchange choosing not to list the token.

Binh Minh