5 years later, Pi Network’s mainnet launch remains elusive

Pi Network pioneers have been expressing concerns over the slow progress towards the long-awaited mainnet launch and the potential impact on the token’s value.

Pi Network celebrates its 5th anniversary

A verified user who has been mining Pi tokens for over five years took to X to express his frustration with the delayed mainnet launch and the slow pace of development. Known as a first-tap-to-earn platform, Pi Network remains popular, especially in emerging markets like China, Brazil, and India.

Founded in 2019 by Stanford scientists Nicolas Kokkalis and Chengdiao Fan, the Pi Network’s goal was to create a cryptocurrency that was easy to mine and use.

Pi Network users, popularly known as pioneers, can mine tokens by simply pressing a button on the mobile app. These tokens are currently worthless, but are expected to gain value once the open mainnet launches.

As part of its roadmap, Pi Network transitioned to a closed mainnet in December 2021. The closed mainnet period allows for calibrations to the token model prior to the official mainnet launch. It also allows developers to create applications that will benefit the Pi coin after launch.

Pi Network is celebrating 2000 days since its official launch on March 14, 2019! This milestone reflects the consistent, ongoing efforts of our community as we move closer each day to our vision of building the world’s most inclusive peer-to-peer ecosystem and online experience. pic.twitter.com/DiQmIyq7qi

— Pi Network (@PiCoreTeam) September 4, 2024

Pi Network mainnet likely to launch in 2024 is decreasing

The real challenge, however, is that the mainnet launch is taking longer than many users expected, leading many to abandon the project altogether.

Some analysts believe that the reason Pi Network has remained on a mainnet for so long is because of the amount of money the platform makes. The current business model is that developers make money by showing ads when someone mines a coin. Therefore, as long as there are users mining coins, they are incentivized to leave it on a closed mainnet.

The same argument has been made for Telegram’s tap-tokens, such as Hamster Kombat and TapSwap. These platforms generate a lot of money, especially on YouTube, where they have amassed millions of followers. One concern is that YouTube videos won’t generate those views once the tokens become tradable.

Pi Network developers hope to launch mainnet later this year, but some analysts fear that won’t happen. For that to happen, multiple pioneers would need to be verified, a move developers argue is necessary to prevent bots. Users who don’t do KYC will see their tokens burned and removed from circulation.

🚨 🆘📢Urgent Notice for Pi Network Users: Billions of Pi at Risk! 🚨

Attention Pi Network Pioneers: ⏳ With only five weeks left until the potential burning of billions of Pi coins, time is running out! 🔥 This is a critical time for the Pi Network community, as… pic.twitter.com/dbRfgLwIh0

— Huynh Thanh Lin ⚡️π 🚀 (@HuynhThanhLin) August 25, 2024

Other conditions for the mainnet launch are more difficult to achieve. For example, developers want to have at least 100 dApps in the ecosystem, a difficult task to achieve as there are less than 50 so far.

They also want the launch to happen at a time when the market is favorable. It is unclear whether cryptocurrencies will be on an upward trend by the end of the year.

As we wrote before, all signs point to Pi coin going down after its listing, with many pioneers liquidating their holdings. Most recently, tap-to-earn tokens that started trading, such as Notcoin (NOT) and Pixelverse (PIXFI), crashed after their initial excitement.

The same thing happened in other popular sectors like earn by moving and earn by playing, where tokens like Decentraland (MANA) and Sweatcoin (SWEAT) crashed.