What is Pi Network (Pi)?
Pi Network is an ambitious ecosystem that’s being developed as the foundation for “the future of social cryptocurrency in Web3” - in other words, the native Pi coin.
On their official website, the team behind Pi introduce the network as a community of tens of millions of users, all mining the Pi coin in order to fuel the development of the larger ecosystem.
If you’re looking for the value of Pi in crypto, you can view it as a sort of intricate organism - the mining process (and the underlying coin) provides the resources necessary to build within the network (i.e. create dApps), with that then being used and further developed by the same Pioneers (that’s what Pi users are called) who participate in the initial mining processes.
The project also puts a huge emphasis on the “human factor”. Before you go ahead and evaluate how much is Pi crypto worth, it’s important to take into account that the network requires Pioneers to pass KYC, in order to ensure that all users are legitimate people, and there’s no botting or other automated activities happening in the background. This way, Pi aims to promote fairness and build real value.
Who Developed the Pi Network?
It’s important to discuss who developed Pi, since this can directly impact the Pi Network price. While many similar projects often have anonymous developers, the team behind Pi is doxed.
The two founders behind Pi are Nicolas Kokkalis and Chengdiao Fan. Kokkalis is the Head of Technology over at Pi, a Stanford PhD, and the instructor for Stanford’s first decentralized applications class. He’s a firm believer in the potential impact that cryptocurrencies could have on the many aspects of human lives, and is determined to drive the development of the industry further.
Dr. Fan is the Head of Product, and also a Stanford PhD. She has a degree in Anthropological Sciences. Fan is focused on “mobilizing individuals all over the world to participate and be rewarded for their contributions”.
Naturally, the larger team behind Pi consists of many developers and community members (more than 35 core team members from all around the world), but the two aforementioned individuals are the faces behind the project.
The Pi Coin
The Pi coin is the native, underlying asset behind the Pi Network ecosystem. In order to get a better understanding of the dynamics of the Pi coin price, let’s take a closer look at the tokenomics of the coin.
The Tokenomics of Pi Coin
Pi uses a social network-based mining mechanism in order to ensure the longevity of the project, and a fair mining environment. The way that it works is simple - as the community behind the project grows, the mining rate decreases.
In the table below, you can see the milestones of when the asset mining rate decreased (which might have also impacted the way users saw Pi network price), as well as the decreasing amount of Pi mined per hour:
Milestone | Pi/Hour |
|---|---|
Up to 1,000 Pioneers | 3.14 |
1,000 Pioneers | 1.57 |
10,000 Pioneers | 0.78 |
100,000 Pioneers | 0.39 |
1,000,000 Pioneers | 0.19 |
10,000,000 Pioneers | 0.10 |
Table: Pi coin mining rate adjustments
The total supply of Pi coins is 100 billion.
20 billion of that is allocated to the Core Team behind the project, and is being unlocked at a gradual pace. The rest will be allocated to both pre-mainnet and mainnet mining rewards, liquidity pools, and community initiatives.
What determines how much is Pi crypto worth? Part of it has to do with the use cases of the digital asset. With Pi, there are a few - namely, the coin will be used for everyday transactions, to ensure network security, within dApps, and even potential integrations with third-party financial systems.
Do note that both the tokenomics and use cases outlined above are for the pre-mainnet launch period. There might be changes and adjustments after the mainnet migration.
Controversies
If you’ve been researching Pi Network price, you will likely be aware of the fact that the project does have a few concerns floating around it.
The biggest and most well-known Pi controversy has to do with the public launch of the mainnet. As of writing, Pi is currently still in a closed mainnet stage - while the launch and migration have been heavily anticipated for a long time now, the date keeps getting pushed backwards.
The arguments for this from the team are simple - they want to ensure that the infrastructure is ready to go public. That being said, the biggest counterargument that enthusiasts have is the fact that it’s been 6 years since the project was launched.
In addition to the mainnet still not being pubic, Pi has also been embroiled in pyramid scheme allegations, as well as concerns regarding data privacy (since you need to perform KYC in order to transfer your Pi tokens).
All of these points should be kept in mind while evaluating the Pi crypto value.
