Pi Network developers have constantly hinted that the mainnet launch would happen this year. The transition from the enclosed mainnet to The Open Network is a highly anticipated event because it will let millions of pioneers convert their accumulated coins into fiat currencies.
The developers have identified three key things that need to happen for the Pi mainnet launch to happen. They first need to ensure that most of the pioneers have conducted their automated KYC verification, a process that has been going on in the past few months.
Millions of users have already verified themselves, and the focus is now shifting to the upcoming conclusion of the process. The grace period for this verification ended on November 31st and was then extended to December 31st.
Therefore, with the deadline for the KYC verification being on the last day of this year, there is a chance that the mainnet launch will not happen in 2024.
The other key thing that needs to happen for the migration to the Open Network to happen is having an ecosystem. The developers hope that there will be at least one hundred mainnet-ready applications that will provide utility to the Pi coin.
Data shows that there are about 60 applications in the Pi Network. While these apps are fewer than the required 100, there are signs that Pi coin will have utility since there are over 27,000 registered businesses that are willing to accept it.
Finally, the external environment will need to be friendly for the mainnet launch to happen. This means that they will only launch it when the crypto industry is doing well and there is clarity about regulations.
Odds are that the Pi Network mainnet launch will happen in the first quarter of next year. For it to happen this year, the developers would have given the roadmap for the potential exchanges that will list it.
What is Pi Network?
The Pi cryptocurrency (PI) claims to provide users with a new crypto with all the advantages of bitcoin (BTC) while avoiding its pitfalls.
However, pi has no value as of 6 April 2023, more than four years after it was initially launched. It cannot be sold on any exchange. It does not yet exist on a live blockchain. It has no wallet. It’s mined by people signing into the Pi app from their phones and tapping a button.
The Pi Network was founded by Stanford University academics Nicolas Kokkalis and Chengdiao Fan in 2018. On 14 March 2019, they published a whitepaper and released the Pi Network app.
The app is used to mine the Pi cryptocurrency, with users pressing a button every 24 hours.
Users get an invitation code from a member to join the app. The platform has a referral system in which users earn extra money based on how many new users they sign up.
Pi Network differs from many other cryptocurrencies in that it employs a proprietary mechanism known as the Stellar Consensus Protocol, which enables users to receive benefits for their participation in the network.
There are four types of users on the Pi Network, These are:
- Pioneer: People who mine Piby tapping the lightning button. There were more than 35 million Pioneers, as of 5 January 2023.
- Contributor: Users provide a list of trustworthy users to the network in exchange for an incentive.
- Ambassadors: People who bring new users to the network using their referral code.
- Nodes: Participants using the Pi node software on their home computers.
When the pi network was launched, the basic mining rate was 1.6 PI per hour, which was reduced to 0.8 PI after 100,000 users were added. When one million people began using the app, the reward decreased to 0.4 PI per hour, and then dropped to 0.2 PI per hour once its user base reached 10 million. The mining will continue to go until the network reaches one billion members.
What is the value of PI?
PI is an unlisted token that is practically worthless as of 6 April 2023. As a result, there is no historical data on the Pi Network’s performance since the token has not yet been launched on any cryptocurrency exchange.
The Pi Network’s creators are yet to reveal the number of coins in circulation when the project is formally launched and maximum supply is still to be determined.
On 29 December 2022, however, crypto exchange Huobi Global announced the listing of PI. In the 24 hours following the announcement, the PI price surged 461.3% from $44.03 to $232.97 on 30 December 2022, according to data from CoinGecko. According to the data aggregator, users were 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 has also undergone several milestones in the past year or so.
In September 2022, the Pi Network announced the launch of Pi Connect. Pi Connect was designed to address current Pi Network crypto limitations, as well as offering users information on Pi’s price and conversion rate for other popular cryptocurrencies.
Pi Connect allows Pi Network users to make interoperable trades with other blockchain networks like Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (MATIC), and others quickly, affordably and securely.
In addition to bridging with Blockchain, PiConnect aims to provide farming and staking, a launchpad platform, lending, auctions and a marketplace, among other things.
On 14 March 2022, co-founder Pi co-founder Nicolas Kokkalis announced that the platform was looking to migrate people who had passed KYC checks’ accounts to the mainnet, although no timeframe was specified.
What is the future of the Pi Network?
The Pi coin future price remains uncertain. While the Pi Network has aims to allow anybody to mine crypto and, like many other crypto platforms, wants to make blockchain technology more accessible, it has been riddled with controversies.
The strong incentive structure significantly favours recruitment, while miners are compensated in a native cryptocurrency with no real value.
Investors are recommended to exercise caution when dealing with this type of speculative cryptocurrency venture.