Pi Network Launches Native PI Token

Pi Network, the smartphone mining project with 60 million users, released its native PI token on Thursday, triggering a volatile trading session.

The token debuted at $1.70 at 09:00 UTC, spiking to $2.00 before plummeting 50% to around $0.97 within two hours. This initial surge increased the project’s fully diluted value (FDV) to nearly $195 billion, almost double that of Solana’s SOL.

The FDV is calculated on a maximum supply of 100 billion tokens. The reported circulating supply stands at 6.3 billion, resulting in a market cap estimated at $6.1 billion.

Comparisons have been drawn to previous viral projects, such as SafeMoon, which leveraged aggressive marketing and referral schemes to attract users. Users can mine the Pi token on mobile devices only after receiving an invitation from another user, and they can share their invite codes. More tokens are earned for each referred user, establishing an ecosystem resembling multilevel marketing (MLM) or pyramid schemes.

Since its inception in 2019 and the launch of its testnet in 2020, the token release marks the official start of the Pi Network mainnet, allowing the trading and transfer of accrued tokens.

Current exchanges struggle with liquid trading options, particularly with the most liquid exchange, OKX, showing only 2% market depth between $33,000 and $60,000. Consequently, larger trades can significantly influence the token’s price.

Market depth indicates the capital needed to affect an asset’s price. For Pi’s market cap, a 2% shift translates to a $146 million adjustment in value.

To address the buyer-seller imbalance, Pi Network offers a lock-up period for token holders, extending up to three years, promising higher mining rewards. This tactic mirrors methods used by Richard Heart’s HEX token, which dramatically declined in value between 2021 and 2024, leaving many locked tokens worthless.