Pi cryptocurrency bills itself as the first coin that can be mined using just your smartphone. Considering some of the premier cryptocurrencies today require powerful processors to mine new coins, the potential for Pi users to do it right on their phone is attracting interest.
Founded by two Stanford PhDs, the Pi app is invite-only, but lets users mine Pi coins faster the more people they invite. It now has 14 million users across the globe.
The name comes from the mathematical constant π, or 3.14. It was launched on "Pi Day," March 14th, or 3/14. The mining rate is expressed in an equation using Pi, with the current mining rate being 0.2π.
Now that you know a little about what's gotten the crypto world intrigued, let's answer the big question: Is the new Pi cryptocurrency worth owning?
Pi Cryptocurrency Is Hiding Something
While it's hard to tell if Pi is a scam, the fact that we're even raising the question should be a major red flag.
One of the reasons for the skepticism around Pi is that its developers haven't released its source code. That's unusual in the crypto world and makes it impossible for outside experts to evaluate the coin. The developers are effectively saying "trust us," and that's exactly the opposite of what has made cryptocurrencies so popular.
Another reason for skepticism is that there's no way to exchange the coin outside of the app right now. You can't buy and sell Pi on Coinbase, Kraken, or any other exchange, and there isn't a way to sell it peer to peer either. That's because Pi doesn't come with a private key like other cryptos do. There's no way to prove who owns which coin, in other words.
Right now, the only place to get Pi is through its app, which makes a use-case argument almost impossible. It also makes coming up with a valuation or price for Pi impossible since there's nothing to exchange it for. If you're seeing wild Pi cryptocurrency price predictions, then know these are almost all fiction. How can you predict the price of coin with no value?
The developers claim the Pi that's been mined will be converted to the blockchain later, allowing users to buy and sell it. Considering the lack of transparency so far, we're not holding our breath.
Considering these issues, Pi coin is not a good investment. And while you could download the app and mine coins, making this low-risk speculation, you're giving up some important personal information to a company you know little about. Users have to give the company their name, address, and phone number, plus download the app to their phone.
We'd pass on Pi right now. Plenty of legitimate cryptos still have major upside potential...
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