Pi Network in 2025: Still Riding the Hype Wave or Just Another Crypto Ghost Town?

Remember Pi Network—the ’mobile mining’ darling that promised to democratize crypto? Fast forward to 2025, and the project’s buzz cuts both ways. True believers still chant about Mainnet launches and exchange listings, while skeptics eye their untouched Pi balances like forgotten frequent-flyer miles.

The Good: Pi’s army of ’Pioneers’ hasn’t disbanded. Community apps still churn out, and the core team drops just enough updates to fuel hopium binges. Some merchants even accept Pi—if you squint hard enough at niche marketplaces.

The Bad: That ’1 Pi = $314’ meme from 2021? Still a meme. No major exchange listing, no institutional interest, just the same KYC grind that turns ’free crypto’ into a part-time job. Meanwhile, Ethereum and Solana eat Pi’s would-be lunch with actual utility.

Bottom line: Pi Network in 2025 is the crypto equivalent of a gym membership—everyone signed up, few actually use it, and the sales team still swears ’next year is our year.’ But hey, at least the mining button still works. (Unlike your average DeFi ’revolution,’ amirite?)

What Did Pi Network Promise?

The Pi Network mesmerized millions with its vision of simple crypto mining. Released on March 14, 2019—Pi Day, commemorating the mathematical constant π (3.14)—it suggested a system in which everyone with a smartphone could mine Pi tokens by merely tapping an app once a day. 

The Pi Network used the stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP), with a focus on energy efficiency and decentralization, in contrast to Bitcoin’s energy-intensive proof-of-work system. Its referral model led to quick growth as users invited others to increase their mining speeds, resulting in a viral group interested in becoming part of the Pi coin’s promise to be the next giant cryptocurrency.

What Has Pi Network Delivered?

The PI Network’s roadmap had committed to a phased progression approach: mobile mining, testnet, Know Your Customer (KYC) confirmation, and mainnet launch. But the progression to a fully functional mainnet was met by several delays. 

The open mainnet eventually went live in February 2025, supporting external trading, but there were still problems. KYC verification chokepoints held up many users from transferring their mined tokens, and the Pi Network token price that reached $2.98 sunk to $0.58 as of May 2025, down by 70%. Scaled-down real-world utility, limited to compact community markets, also hindered the Pi Network from providing a strong ecosystem.

Deciding if the Pi Network is a scam or a well-intentioned failure takes subtlety. Unlike typical scams, it didn’t involve any initial investment; instead, it used daily app use. Yet, its referral-based model is similar to multi-level marketing, and ad-based monetization and compulsory KYC are troubling in terms of data exploitation. 

Whereas the Pi Network’s 70 million users constitute real interest, blockchain statistics point to only 9.11 million wallets with 20,000 active users per day, indicating exaggerated activity. Critics note that the opaque nature of Pi Network operations and broken promises are what clouds the difference between ambition and deceit.

The recovery of Pi Network is tough but not impossible. To restore trust and credibility, it needs to tackle key areas. Open-sourcing its codebase WOULD provide greater transparency, with verification by the community. Creating practical use cases, e.g., payments or decentralized applications, would provide tangible value for Pi tokens. And it has somewhere been successful in doing so, and its 7-day growth of 114% proves this.

Listings on top exchanges such as Binance would help boost liquidity, and decentralization of governance would bring the Pi Network into line with blockchain philosophy. But with declining user interest and a steep price decline since the mainnet release, it has to race against time to regain momentum.

Pi Network started with the ambitious goal of making crypto mining a reality for everyone, attracting a global following with its new way of thinking. However, consistent delays, control under one entity, and a lack of utility have questioned whether it is possible to deliver on its promises. Although not a scam, the issues of the Pi Network make it clear that scaling a decentralized project is not easy. Its future depends on transparency, utility, and community trust. 

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