Pi Network AIO

What is Pi Network and how does it work? For those seeing Pi Network as a potential investment, what follows is an overview of what the Pi Network aims to achieve and how PI price expectations have emerged before a single coin has been traded.

What is Pi Network?

Pi Network is a digital currency project that aims to keep cryptocurrency mining accessible, as the centralisation of first-generation currency bitcoin (BTC) has put mining it beyond the reach of many users.

Pi Network, developed by a team of Stanford University graduates, enables users to mine PI coins using mobile phones, validating transactions on a valid block.

Unlike nodes on networks such as Bitcoin that uses proof-of-work (PoW) protocols, Pi nodes use an algorithm based on the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP). Pi Nodes validate transactions on a distributed ledger and reach a consensus on the order of new transactions that the ledger records.

Pi nodes form security circles, or groups, of three to five trusted people known to each of the network’s users. Security circles build a global trust network that prevents fraudulent transactions, as transactions can only be validated on the shared ledger if the trusted nodes approve them.

The PI mining app acts as a cryptocurrency wallet, linked to a user’s mobile phone number or Facebook account. As with other public blockchains, the Pi blockchain will allow external wallets to hold PI coins and submit transactions directly to the blockchain only after open mainnet is launched.

With branding based on the mathematical constant π, Phase 1 of the project launched on Pi Day, 14 March 2019, with a free PI mining app. By June, the network had more than 100,000 active users. A year later, when Phase 2 launched, there were more than 3.5 million users.

The app started running advertisements in May 2020 to provide a source of financing for the project. On 15 March 2022, the Pi Network announced its user base had climbed to 33 million, more than double the 14 million users in March 2021.

Pi Network Roadmap

Just like other cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, Pi network was designed to undergo regular ‘halving’ to protect its scarcity. Halving is when the number of coins a miner receives while mining for a period of time  is reduced by half. This usually occurs at the beginning of every new month.

Pi Network mining rate halved from 1.6 π to 0.8 π an hour when it reached 100,000 users, halved again to 0.4 π an hour when it reached 1 million and halved again to 0.2 π when it reached 10 million users. The rewards will continue to halve, reaching zero when the network reaches 1 billion users. The base mining rate halved when Pi crossed 10 million engaged Pioneers! Your mining rate will adjust with your next mining session.

Halving protects Pi's scarcity. Mine at a higher rate while you can.

In November 2021, the development team started releasing tech and product updates. These included its pilot Know Your Customer (KYC) app and Block Explorer. The KYC app pilot, having been tested with community moderators, was deployed “on a limited basis” to start the process of verifying pioneers and to improve the app’s usability and machine automation. The Pi Block Explorer, which helps pioneers see the transaction history and explore transaction data such as sender, receiver and amount, was also deployed.  

The Pi wallet was also updated, enabling the developers to create push notifications to alert pioneers when they receive a payment on the blockchain, and fixing a bug for Android users who could not see their wallet passphrase.

Pi Network launched an “enclosed mainnet” on 28 December 2021 to continue testing ahead of its full launch. It also introduced a new mining mechanism and “infrastructure to provide pioneers a simulation of the upcoming mining formula”.

The KYC app was initially launched to a few thousand pilot participants for testing, with 100 pioneers permitted per country or region.

According to Pi Network Announcement:

“The Enclosed Network period means that the Mainnet is live but with a firewall that prevents any unwanted external connectivity. Pioneers will be able to take time to KYC and migrate their Pi to the live Mainnet blockchain. Any balance migrated to the Mainnet can be used, by the choice of the Pioneer, to purchase goods and services in Pi apps, transfer to other Pioneers, or get locked up for a duration of time for a higher mining rate.”

On Pi Day this year (14 March 2022), the development team announced two more updates, the rollout of a mass KYC solution, and a new PI mining mechanism that allows more diverse mining rewards. These actions could potentially enhance the value to advertisers.  

The developers said that they were rolling out KYC “on a large scale” to eligible users on 16 March. On 19 May, Pi Network reached 35 million engaged pioneers. In August, Pi Network ran a Twitter poll which revealed that 61% of pioneers were referred to the project by a friend. Family members came in second with 17% and co-workers at 4%, while 18% of the 54,722 polled chose “other”.

On 15 November 2022, Pi Network’s Twitter account passed two million followers.

Pi Network remains on enclosed mainnet 

At the time of writing, there is still no way to add the PI coin to your portfolio. Users who have mined the PI coin will only be able to withdraw or exchange their coins for goods and services at an agreed value. PI cannot be transferred out to external wallets both CEX and DEX during this phase. According to the core team, this is to prevent fake accounts from accumulating coins.  As a result, the coin is not yet available to trade on any cryptocurrency exchange or trading platform. 

What Is The Future Of Pi Coin?

Debates continues as to whether Pi Network is a well-intentioned initiative or a scam. If it is a scam, it is not a traditional one in the fashion of a Ponzi scheme, as users are not investing their money, they are only investing time on their mobile phones. The core team has been criticised for allegedly exploiting its community by selling advertising to reach these 35 million users. The figure comes from an announcement the coreteam made on Twitter on 19 May. There have been no updates regarding the total number of “pioneers” since then as we believe it has surpassed those numbers.

However, early adopters are accumulating the PI crypto in anticipation that the price will rise sharply after the network goes live. Although the coin’s mining rate has been reduced by halving, users can increase their mining rate by connecting with other active miners. New users can now join the Pi Network without needing a referral code from another user.

Pi Network ICO?

Pi Network has continued to insist it is not running an initial coin offering (ICO) or crowdfunding sale, and coins that can be mined on the enclosed mainnet currently stay in the ecosystem. 

On 11 March, the developers said that the Enclosed Network period would give pioneers time to pass KYC verification, tweak the mainnet and add more apps. They did not say when the network will become open, only that “the Enclosed Network period is in line with Pi’s vision of a utility-based ecosystem”.

Pi Network Price

While the price of PI has yet to be established, some cryptocurrency observers and algorithm-based websites have already attempted to make PI crypto price predictions. 

Let’s take a look at what the PI network price could be when it does start trading, based on information from crypto forecast and monitoring websites. 

PI coin price prediction 2022 to 2025

The cryptocurrency data provider CoinMarketCap previously listed the value of the coin at $0.007077. As of 7 December 2022, the website lists the coin as “untracked”, with no price attached. The website also provides the following disclaimer when attempting to view PI coin’s value: 

“Pi Network has faced its fair share of controversy recently.”

The algorithm-based forecasting sites Wallet Investor and DigitalCoinPrice have also previously listed an estimated price of $0.007077 per PI coin.

Last year, DigitalCoinPrice gave a Pi Network price prediction for 2022 that saw the coin trading at an average of $0.0127 throughout the year. The website’s Pi Network price prediction for 2025 last indicated a potential price of $0.0212, indicating possible growth throughout 2023 and 2024. It then predicted the token could cost $0.0319 in 2028.

However, neither website is currently giving a PI price prediction, though both have listings for the Pi Network DeFi coin. In fact, no algorithm-based forecast website is currently giving out a PI network value prediction.

As such, any Pi Network price prediction for 2023 and onwards, up to Pi Network price predictions for 2030, would be highly speculative. The PI coin value in 2030 could depend on when the cryptocurrency goes live for trading and how well it performs after the launch. Estimates from some users on social media range from $1 to thousands of dollars.

It is important to keep in mind that cryptocurrency markets remain extremely volatile, making it difficult to accurately predict what a coin’s price will be in a few hours, and even harder to give long-term estimates, such as for the PI network value in 2025. As such, analysts can and will get their predictions wrong.

I recommend that you always do your own research (DYOR) and consider the latest market trends, news, technical and fundamental analysis, before making an investment in both Crypto and stock market. Never invest more than you can afford to lose.