Pi Network

What is Pi Network?

Pi Network is a project launched in 2019 that let people earn PI through a phone app by checking in daily, rather than by running mining hardware. After years in a closed system, its Open Network launched on February 20, 2025, letting identity-verified users move PI to outside wallets and exchanges.

What it’s used for

Users earn PI in the app, complete KYC identity checks and migrate balances to mainnet, then hold, trade or spend PI in Pi ecosystem apps. Since 2025 PI has traded on several centralized exchanges, and Kraken listed it in March 2026.

Role of the PI token:

Evidence of real use

• Pi's Open Network launched on February 20, 2025, connecting its blockchain and verified community to the outside world. Source
• Kraken listed PI with trading starting March 13, 2026. Source
• In February 2025 Bybit's CEO said the exchange would not list PI, citing a 2023 Chinese police warning that alleged the project targeted elderly people. Source

How Pi Network works

Pi's "mining" is not mining in the Bitcoin sense. Users open the app and tap a button roughly once a day to confirm they are active, and the app credits PI to their balance. Phones do not perform heavy computation. Earning rates have been reduced over time and were boosted for inviting other users and for building "security circles" of trusted contacts. The network itself uses a consensus design derived from the Stellar Consensus Protocol.

To move PI out of the app, users must pass KYC, an identity check run through Pi's own process, and then migrate their balance to mainnet. Many users have reported long waits, and some balances are locked for set periods by choice or by default. Only after migration can PI be sent to external wallets and, since the February 2025 Open Network launch, to exchanges that list it.

Pi has drawn sustained criticism. Its referral rewards were compared to multi-level marketing, and in 2023 police in Hengyang, China warned it was a scam targeting elderly people, a warning Bybit's CEO cited when refusing to list PI. Critics also point to the Core Team's large allocation and control over migration and nodes. Pi disputes the scam label, and the network does operate with real users and exchange listings.

Key moments

1. 2019Stanford graduates Nicolas Kokkalis and Chengdiao Fan launch the Pi app on Pi Day, March 14.
2. 2021Pi begins its Enclosed Mainnet, where PI works inside the ecosystem but cannot reach outside exchanges.
3. 2025The Open Network launches on February 20, and PI begins trading on external exchanges.
4. 2026Kraken lists PI on March 13 as KYC and migration updates continue.

Supply

Pi's whitepaper sets a maximum supply of about 100 billion PI, with roughly 65% earmarked for mining rewards and the rest for the Pi Foundation and the Core Team. Only part of that supply has been migrated and unlocked, so circulating supply keeps growing as KYC, migration and lockups progress.

Risks to understand

• The Core Team controls identity checks, migration, mainnet nodes and a large token allocation.
• Gradual unlocks and migrations add supply that can weigh on the market.
• The project has been called a scam by an exchange CEO and in a Chinese police warning, which affects listings and trust.
• Fake Pi apps, wallets and "buy Pi" offers are a common scam route.

Last reviewed October 4, 2026 by The Crypto Guide editorial team. Utility Lens ratings are editorial judgments, not investment advice. Market data from CoinGecko. Spot an error? Request a correction.