Pi Network price prediction: What is PI?
PI, the native token of the Pi Network, remains arguably the biggest upcoming cryptocurrency, with no official release date set more than four years after it was intially announced.
What is Pi Network?
Pi Network is a digital currency project that aims to make cryptocurrency mining accessible, as the centralisation of first-generation currencies like bitcoin (BTC) has made mining them a challenge for many everyday users.
The Pi Network, developed by a team of Stanford University graduates, enables users to mine PI cryptocurrency coins using desktop and mobile phone apps, validating transactions on a distributed record.
Unlike nodes on networks such as Bitcoin that use 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.
Under SCP, 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. However, unlike other blockchains, its developers have not yet released its source code.
There is still no indication when – or if – the 35 million so-called “pioneers” who mine on the Pi Network (PI) are ever going to benefit from their coins. As of 6 April 2023, there are still no coins officially being traded, the network’s mainnet has not been launched, and there have been no transactions or fiat rewards. This makes it difficult to establish the worth of PI coin.
It is important to distinguish Pi Network’s coin from the Pi Network DeFi token, which runs on the Binance (BNB) blockchain and is available for trading on the PancakeSwap (CAKE) decentralised exchange (DEX).
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.
As with other cryptos such as bitcoin, Pi was designed to undergo regular ‘halving’ to protect its scarcity. Halving is when the number of coins a miner receives for processing new transactions is reduced by half. This usually occurs when a certain milestone is reached.
PI’s 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 one billion users.
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 the project’s blog:
On Pi Day last 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 claimed to have reached 35 million engaged pioneers.
In August, Pi Network ran a Twitter poll which revealed that 61% of pioneers (Pi Network members) 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 remains in pre-release mode
At the time of writing (6 April 2023), there is still no way to officially add the PI coin to your portfolio. Users who have mined the PI cryptocurrency will only be able to withdraw or exchange their coins when the mainnet blockchain is fully opened. PI cannot be transferred during the testing phase.
According to the project’s website, this is to prevent fake accounts from accumulating coins. Wallet balances are expected to be honoured when PI shifts from development mode to become a fully live network.
As a result, the coin is not yet officially available to trade on any cryptocurrency exchange or trading platform.
Unauthorised listing in December 2022
On 29 December 2022, crypto exchange Huobi Global announced the listing of PI, the native token of the Pi Network. In the 24 hours following the announcement, the Pi token price surged 461.3% from $44.03 to $232.97 as of 30 December 2022, according to CoinGecko data. According to the data aggregator, users can also trade the Pi Network token on XT.COM and BitMart.
However, Pi Network responded by warning against the listing of its token on Huobi and other exchanges, tweeting that it hadn’t “authorised any exchange listing” as of 29 December 2022.
The Pi Network followed up the tweet with an official statement:
“Pi Network is aware of reports that several unauthorised third party exchanges, and potential unknown third parties, are seeking to list Pi or tokens purporting to be PI, or some purported derivative of PI, without the consent, authority or involvement of Pi Network.
“It is important to reiterate that PI is currently in the Enclosed Network and is not approved by Pi Network for listing on any exchange or for trading, and Pi Network was not involved with any of these purported postings or listings.
“Currently, Pi Network recommends to all Pioneers and potential PI users not to engage with any of these exchanges or third-party actors as their actions are not affiliated with Pi Network, and could result in substantial loss or damage to Pi users. Pi Network is also requesting these posts and exchange listings removed, and evaluating additional actions with respect to the third parties and exchanges.
“In the interim, it is important to reiterate that the transaction of Pi through an exchange is explicitly prohibited during the Enclosed Mainnet period, and doing so would be a violation of Pi’s policies.”
Meanwhile, in early 2023, the platform launched a hackathon, an event where the platforms users were encouraged to build a range of applications on the Pi Network itself, with the event lasting until 28 February.
In the run up to 14 March – the so-called Pi Day – the network announced it was asking people for 10 second contributions to a video about Pi Network.
What is the future of PI coin?
Currently, debate 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 investing time on their mobile phones.
The organisation has been criticised for allegedly exploiting its community by selling advertising to reach these 35 million users. That figure comes from an announcement the platform made on Twitter on 19 May 2022. There have been no updates regarding the total number of “pioneers” since.
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 only join the Pi Network if they have a referral code from another user.
The project’s developers claim that security on the Pi Network is enhanced by these personal networks, encouraging users to bring in friends and family, which has fuelled scepticism that it could be a multi-level marketing (MLM) or pyramid scheme. However, it is worth noting that users can only earn coins from their own direct networks, and not from their connections’ networks, as with an MLM scheme.
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 2022, 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 and its iterative philosophy”.
More than a year later, on 14 March 2023, Pi co-founder Nicolas Kokkalis announced that the platform was looking to migrate people who had passed KYC checks' accounts to the mainnet,
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 price could be when it does start trading, based on information from crypto forecast and monitoring websites.
PI coin price prediction: 2023 to 2025
The cryptocurrency data provider CoinMarketCap listed the value of the coin at around $26.50 on 6 April 2023, down from $38.20 as of 17 March, down from $63.50 on 3 February, when it had lost more than 60% of its value since the beginning of the year.
The website also provided the following disclaimer when attempting to view PI coin’s value:
CoinGecko, listing a price of $26.36, issued a similar warning:
The algorithm-based forecasting sites Wallet Investor and DigitalCoinPrice previously listed an estimated price of $0.007077 for PI coin.
In 2021, the latter site’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 reliable algorithm-based forecast website is currently giving out a PI cryptocurrency 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 hundreds 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 cryptocurrency value in 2025. As such, analysts can and do get their predictions wrong.
We recommend that you always do your own research and consider the latest market trends, news, technical and fundamental analysis, and expert opinion before making any investment decision. Never invest more than you can afford to lose.