The cryptocurrency industry faces persistent risks from bad actors who exploit popular projects by staging giveaway or airdrop scams and impersonating key team members. These schemes can mislead users into sharing personal information, sending funds, or following malicious links.
Pi Network’s only verified X account issued an important clarification to help its large user base ensure they follow authentic team members and avoid falling victim to impersonation schemes.
Official Accounts Only
In recent posts about verification and ecosystem growth, Pi Network’s Core Team stated that the broader Pi ecosystem has grown to over 60 million users. Approximately 30% of that community has completed the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) verification process, and more than 16.7 million accounts have been migrated to Mainnet.
Given the sizeable community and the risk of impersonation, the Core Team clarified which official accounts users should follow. Their announcement included links to the two founders’ X accounts, Nicolas Kokkalis and Dr. Chengdiao Fan. Both founder profiles have received affiliate badges to help Pioneers identify the legitimate accounts.
It is worth noting that neither founder posts frequently on social media; visible activity from both accounts is limited, with their most recent public posts published some time ago.
As some Pioneers may have noticed, affiliate badges have recently been assigned to the Pi Founders’ official X accounts. This helps you identify their only real accounts!
For your safety, always verify information through the official Pi Safety Center and official Founder…
— Pi Network (@PiCoreTeam) May 15, 2026
The Core Team also warned users to remain vigilant about scammers impersonating anyone associated with the project, unofficial accounts posing as team members, and misleading links that claim to represent Pi.
Other Projects Also Warn Users
Pi Network is not alone in facing impersonation and scam attempts. Ripple’s former CTO recently posted a warning to his roughly 700,000 X followers about the presence of fake social media accounts impersonating him to promote fraudulent airdrops and giveaways.
Shiba Inu, another widely followed crypto project, regularly alerts its community about suspicious posts and ads circulating on social media. One recent warning highlighted several fraud attempts related to the SOU NFT, urging users to exercise caution and verify all information through official channels.
Across the cryptocurrency space, these warnings emphasize a few consistent safety measures: verify account identities using platform verification tools, check announcements only on official channels, avoid sharing private keys or sensitive information, and never send funds to accounts that solicit participation in unverified giveaways. Remaining cautious and relying on verified sources reduces the chance of falling victim to impersonation or scam campaigns.