It probably wouldn’t be an understatement to say that Pi has taken the crypto world by storm. You needn’t look far - a single glance at the BitDegree tracker, where the top projects are listed by their popularity, will show you that Pi is dominating day in and day out. Being shrouded in a lot of mystery and uncertainty, naturally, it begs the question to many - how to buy & sell Pi coins?
Well, I can tell you right now - the answer is definitely not as straightforward as it may seem, at first glance.
With all of its shocking popularity, you’d think that the coin would be listed on all of the top-rated exchanges on the market, such as Binance or Kraken. That’s actually not the case - even more so, Pi isn’t even available to be traded via DEXs, either.
Combine that with the fact that you have people asking, “will Pi crypto be worth anything?”, and you have yourself a bit of a mystery on your hands.
Fear not - we’ll dispel that mystery together, in this in-depth breakdown.
Key Takeaways
- There is, at the time of writing, no safe or reliable way how to buy or sell Pi coins - it’s not available on either CEXs or DEXs;
- The coin will become buyable and sellable as soon as the mainnet opens up, but the exact time of when this will happen is unclear;
- It would be feasible to expect Pi to become available on many of the major exchanges, as well as decentralized ones, whenever the mainnet opens to the public. However, at this time, there’s no direct confirmation that this will or won’t happen.
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Table of Contents
How to Buy / Sell Pi Coin?
I’m not going to beat around the bush and tell you this straight away - if you’re looking at how to buy or sell Pi coins, you won’t be able to do so.
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At least, not yet.
Now, look - I know that if you start googling “buy Pi coin”, “buy Pi network coin”, or something along the lines of “where to buy Pi crypto”, you’ll immediately get bombarded with a ton of conflicting (and sometimes - plain inaccurate) information. So, I’m here to set the scene for you - let me explain this as clearly and concisely as possible.
The so-called Pi coin is part of the Pi Network. It’s essentially a huge community of people around the globe, all “mining” Pi coins on their mobile devices (naturally, as with most other projects[1], the network was started by a centralized business entity). I put “mining” into quotes, since it’s not really the type of mining that you’d think of, when you hear the term used in a crypto context.
The semantics don’t really matter - what matters is that this is how you would go about earning Pi coins.
Now, once you see the coins accumulating in your wallet, the next step is to sell them… Right? Well, assuming you’re just looking to make a profit, that is.
Whatever the personal circumstance might be, the truth of the matter is that, as of writing this “How to Buy & Sell Pi Coin” tutorial, you are currently not able to neither buy, nor sell the coins.
The reason behind it is stated to be this - the mainnet is currently “enclosed”.
What that essentially means is that you’re able to participate in certain Pi Network activities, and contribute to its development, but are not able to “exit the enclosed ecosystem” - e.g. buy Pi crypto, or check how to sell Pi crypto.
Since I’m pretty sure I know what you’re going to say next, let me address the “I saw Pi listed on X exchange” comments.
Pi Coin VS Pi IOUs
Now, as a disclaimer, I will say that information on this is a bit murky - different outlets claim different things, which is naturally quite inconvenient for anyone looking at how to sell Pi Network coins.
Let’s try to unravel the facts, however.
A few Google searches might quickly form this idea that not only is Pi coin listed on a couple of major exchange platforms (HTX being one of them), but it also has a fluctuating price tag attached to it, as well.
Naturally, this goes against everything that I’ve said in this article, about not being able to buy or sell the asset - after all, if it’s listed on an exchange, and has a moving price, it’s a publicly-available asset, right?
Well, this is where things get even more interesting.
As of today, no exchanges out there - neither CEXs, nor DEXs - list and / or support Pi coin. The listing info that you see is for something the community calls “Pi coin IOUs”.
An IOU is just like it sounds - an “I owe you”, a sort of lending / borrowing agreement, usually expressed in the form of a written note. It’s a popular concept all around the world, spanning multiple industries, and crypto isn’t an exception.
So, what you see listed on Huobi and other exchanges isn’t Pi coin itself, but a sort of an IOU for that coin. In turn, the representing value (price tag) references that IOU, as well, and not the coin.
Now, does that make a difference? Well, as far as the price is concerned, it might, or it may not - no one knows. Until the coin goes live, and is available to be publicly traded, the price is a complete mystery.
This is important to hammer in - the price that you see attached to the IOU, and the “fluctuations” that the coin has had, are all completely random, based on third-party interference, and do not in any way represent the actual Pi coin price.
I’d assume that this is something that’s quite relevant, to anyone looking into how to buy and sell Pi coin.
But, let’s not glance over the IOU fact, either. While it’s certainly a bit of an unusual situation, the fact of the matter remains the same - it’s a confusing ordeal if you’re trying to see “how do I sell my Pi coins?”, and simply want to cash out your proposed earnings. It circles back to the point I’ve been trying to make in the entirety of this article - as of yet, you really can’t.
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The Secret(s) Behind the Hype
If your only interest is how to sell Pi Network coins or where to buy Pi Network, patience - I’ll get into some potential solutions for your situation in a bit.
Before that, though, I’d like to address the buzz that Pi has been receiving as of late, and the potential reasons for it.
I even pointed it out at the beginning of this “How to Buy & Sell Pi Coin” tutorial - Pi seems to be everywhere. Even discarding the fact that it’s been dominating the popularity charts on the BitDegree tracker, this is a phantom asset that’s been raising questions all around the internet, especially in the last half a year.
“Phantom asset”, since it doesn’t exist yet, in a coin or token form. And yet, exchange platforms like HTX (and all the way to Binance) have articles talking about it, trackers tracking its “price”, listings of its IOUs, etc.
You must admit - it’s a rather unique situation! Not something you’d see all that often within the industry.
So - what’s going on here, what’s with all of this sudden popularity?
Well, as with everything in the crypto market, it’s a combination of circumstances, the main ones including:
- The advertising model of the company behind Pi;
- Hearsay & speculation (people inquiring about will Pi crypto be worth anything, and how to buy & sell Pi network coin);
- The ongoing bull run.
Let’s break it down from the top.
The advertising model of the company behind the Pi Network is, well… Interesting. It’s actually somewhat of a cause for concern online, in different Pi community circles.
This is because, as per the claims of multiple individuals, Pi appears to be functioning via a pyramid-like model. It’s heavily referral-driven - you need to have an invitation to get in (or, you used to - nowadays, it just nets major benefits if you do), and the entire app is very “refer-more-people” oriented.
Whenever you have a heavy emphasis on referrals, this naturally acts as a sort of innate marketing strategy, in and of itself. People invite friends, the word spreads around, and it becomes a snowball effect.
Undoubtedly, this is a huge part of what makes Pi so popular nowadays. Another factor would be the speculatory nature of such assets.
Obviously, people who are looking at how to buy & sell Pi coins are hoping to either jump into a potential moonshot, or to cash out some profits. Since you can’t technically buy Pi just yet, all of the coins you’ve gathered till now could be considered “profits”.
Seeing as the market is exhibiting a lot of bullish sentiments these days, that only adds to the excitement and interest in similar projects / assets. People start searching where to buy Pi crypto or how to sell Pi crypto, exchange platforms notice this and create content around it, and you have a lot of buzz being generated, as a result.
As a bit of a sidenote here, I do also want to point out on thing - there are A LOT of copycat projects and coins with similar names out there. Sometimes, exchange platforms get it wrong, themselves, and link users to unrelated assets.
How to spot the real Pi Network? Well, three things - first of all, the logo. If it’s different, it’s a different project, altogether. Secondly, the name - “Pi Network” is the correct name, while something like “Pi DeFi Network Token” is a different thing.
Lastly, as you might have gathered up to this point in the “How to Buy & Sell Pi Coin”, the coin in question cannot be purchased or sold, just yet. So, if you see a tradeable asset - it’s not the real Pi coin.
How to Buy & Sell Pi… In the Future?
The current state of things is clear - you can’t buy Pi Network coin, and if you’re wondering, “can I sell my Pi coins?”, the answer’s the same - at this point in time, you cannot.
It’s also unclear when you’d be able to do so - as in, when the mainnet will open. People have been predicting the date to be somewhere in 2022 or 2023, but as we can now see, it didn’t come to fruition.
Whenever the mainnet opens up, and assuming that Pi will “act” the same as any other coin / token on the market, you should be able to start trading it on either DEXs, CEXs, or even both.
So - allow me to give you a super-quick guide on how to buy & sell Pi coins, in the future!
The DEX Route
First of all, DEXs - decentralized exchanges. As with any new asset out there, before being listed on major exchange platforms such as Binance, Kraken, or Coinbase, tokens are available to be traded on specific DEXs.
Which DEX Pi would be supported on is currently unclear, but the good part here is that it doesn’t really matter - individuals looking into how to sell Pi Network coin will be glad to hear that the process is very similar with most decentralized exchanges on the market.
So, for simplicity’s sake, I’ll be using PancakeSwap as an example.
Step 1: If you’re looking to buy Pi coins, you’ll need some cryptocurrencies in your dedicated wallet. I’d suggest using MetaMask, together with a Ledger hardware wallet (for maximum security).
You can purchase the required cryptocurrency on a major exchange platform, such as Binance, for fiat money. Let’s assume that you’ll need BNB coins - they can be bought very easily via the aforementioned method.
Step 2: Once you have some coins ready in your dedicated wallet, it’s now time to connect that wallet to PancakeSwap. Pass through the confirmations, and you’ll be in.
Step 3: Now, the fun part. Depending on a few variables, Pi might be available to be found in the dropdown menu of the swap interface, or you might actually need to paste the contract address for the token into PancakeSwap yourself.
If you find yourself wondering will Pi crypto be worth anything, and thus want to buy some coins, and need to paste in the contract address manually, be very careful - make sure that you take the address from an official resource, such as the Pi Network official website.
It’s very easy to make a mistake, and copy-paste some scammy lookalike - naturally, you wouldn’t want that to happen.
Step 4: Once you have your token set (I’m using CAKE as an example - imagine that Pi would be in its place), choose the amount that you want to buy / sell, and click “Swap” - after a few confirmations, the tokens will be transferred to your wallet!
Note that you might need to add the token manually to your wallet, so that it would be able to read / show the balance to you. It’s just a UI thing, though - the tokens would still get transferred to your wallet, either way.
With that, let’s also cover the CEX route.
- A very well-known crypto exchange platform
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- Small withdrawal fees
- Very low trading fees
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- Multiple fiat currencies are accepted
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The CEX Route
Obviously, looking at how to buy & sell Pi coins via a centralized exchange, you’ll probably notice rather quickly that the process is far easier than it’d be doing it via a DEX.
Let’s walk through how that might look - I’ll be using Binance as the example-platform.
Step 1: Navigate to Binance and log in / sign up on the exchange. If you’re not a user of Binance, you’ll need to sign up and pass the entry KYC verification checks - this is standard procedure with most reliable exchanges on the market, and it involves providing proof of identity and some personal information about yourself.
Step 2: Once you’re on Binance, you now need to either buy Pi network coins for fiat money, or check “how do I sell my Pi coins” via this exchange, for other crypto assets or fiat.
I will say - thanks to the user-friendliness offered by Binance, this section of the “How to Buy & Sell Pi Coin” tutorial is very straightforward.
If you want to BUY Pi, all that you need to do is navigate to the "Buy Crypto" tab on the exchange, choose the currency that you want to use (and Pi - the asset you want to buy), and set the payment method that’s best for you.
After that, simply initiate the transaction, and that’s it - you’ll have learned how to buy Pi coins!
If you’re still wondering, “can I sell my Pi coins?”, and if the asset is supported on Binance, the process will look just as simple - navigate to the same tab, select "Sell", and then choose the asset / currency that you’d like to receive.
After filling out all of the information and passing through the confirmations, you’ll have sold your Pi holdings!
One last option is to trade your Pi coins for another asset, or vice versa, on a centralized exchange. Again, this process is straightforward and streamlined to be as simple to do for beginners as possible.
Well, at least on the Binance crypto exchange.
Trading different crypto assets for Pi would involve utilizing the Spot market - you’ll find it on the dropdown menu, at the top of the page, under the "Trade" tab (bottom row of buttons, if you’re using mobile).
Simply select the asset that you want to trade, and pick the Pi coin - if all seems in order, set the amount you want to trade, fill out the order information, and click the confirmation button. In most cases, it really is that simple!
In the examples above, I’m using different assets, since Pi isn’t available to be traded anywhere just yet. However, if you learn how to sell Pi crypto now, it’ll make things a lot easier in the future!
An Overview of Pi Network
Now that we got all of the core questions answered and out of the way, let’s talk a bit more about the Pi Network itself - what this project is, what makes it special, why it’s often seen as ‘controversial’, and everything in between.
So, let’s take it from the top.
While Pi has popped up on many people’s radars only in the past few months, the project is actually quite old! It was conceived in 2019 - as you might imagine, though, for the most part, it was quite obscure. It took some time to get the ball rolling.
The big question that’s on everyone’s minds likely sounds a little something like this - what in the world even is the Pi Network, in general?
Well, to quote the project’s official website, the core mission of Pi is to “build the world’s most inclusive peer-to-peer ecosystem and online experience, fueled by Pi, the world’s most widely distributed cryptocurrency.”.
In other words, the goal is evidently quite abstract - to create a designated Web3 ecosystem, based completely on the new Pi blockchain network.
This, in turn, puts other aspects of the project into some sort of perspective. The Pi coin would act as a sort of utility token (a digital asset based on the underlying blockchain[2]), fuelling the entire ecosystem, while the mining processes would fuel the development of the elements within it - e.g. the native dApps built on the newly established blockchain.
Sounds pretty straightforward, doesn’t it? Well, it’s certainly not a simple feat to accomplish - it does, however, make sense, seeing as Pi is looking to tackle the most common mass adoption issues faced by the Web3 industry, and onboard a huge number of people to the space, while still preserving the decentralization and integrity of this new network.
Pi’s answer to accomplishing that is the aforementioned mining mechanism - it appears to be an ASIC-resistant crypto project, which essentially means that the mining processes would primarily take place on users’ mobile devices.
That being said, as I’ve hinted earlier in this “How to Buy & Sell Pi Coin” tutorial, the project isn’t without its controversial sides. Most of the controversies appear to revolve around sustainability - namely, just how sustainable is the business model that Pi employs, especially since it’s mostly referral-based?
On the one hand, Pi was created by Stanford PhDs, and people who have major credentials working with other high-profile projects in the digital space. This lends an aura of legitimacy to the entire ordeal. Naturally, this means that the founders are doxed, as well.
On the other hand, though, users claim the app to be less-than-ideal, functionality-wise, which raises some red flags. On top of that, with referrals being the main driving force behind user engagement, there’s a sense of urgency lingering around - what will happen with the token when it finally launches? And can this massive growth in popularity be sustainable, or is it a bubble waiting to pop at any given point in time?
Furthermore - when will the mainnet actually go public, to begin with? As mentioned, there were talks that this should take place in 2022 or 2023, at the latest. Yet, we’re in 2024, and there’s still no sign of the opening happening.
These (and related) questions linger around everywhere the Pi coin is mentioned or talked about. It doesn’t really inspire confidence in the project, especially seeing that concrete, specific, and clear information isn’t always all that easy to find.
It’s all part of the process of figuring out not “can I sell my Pi coins?” or “how do I sell my Pi coins?”, but rather whether the project is even worth looking into and trying out, in the first place.
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Conclusions
And so, that’s a wrap - now you know how to buy & sell Pi coins!
Well… Sort of. To be a bit more specific, you know why you can’t do it right now, as well as how the process might look whenever the asset becomes available to be publicly traded, on either centralized or decentralized exchange platforms.
Admittedly, the Pi Network is in a very unusual and interesting position, as far as - honestly? - everything surrounding the project is concerned. You can’t buy it, you can’t sell it, but you can “mine” it - however, even that doesn’t reference the usual “mining” process.
It’s certainly out of the ordinary, that’s for sure.
Whatever the case might be, all that’s left to do is to sit around and wait for the asset to be listed on major crypto exchange platforms, such as Binance, Kraken, or KuCoin, or some DEXs - that is, if you’re interested in how to buy & sell Pi coins. With so much buzz around the project, there’s a lot of uncertainty, as well - make sure to do your own research before investing!
Scientific References
1. LH White, Cato J.: 'The Market for Cryptocurrencies';
2. Härdle W. K., Harvey C. R., Reule R. C. G.: 'Understanding Cryptocurrencies'.
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