From DaGouGou:
Many Pi enthusiasts always want to hear from me about the future price of Pi or when it will reach the top five in market cap. Honestly, if I had the ability to predict specific timing and prices, wouldn’t I have already made a fortune with Bitcoin, Ethereum, spot trading, or futures? I wouldn’t be stuck at A10 in contracts either. I really can’t predict the future, but today I want to seriously talk about Pi. There are actually many details that could be further refined, but writing is exhausting. I think this article is enough to give both veteran and new pioneers, as well as observers, a deeper understanding of Pi. (If you don’t want to seriously read my “nonsense,” please take a detour, or better yet, block me. If you’re here to argue or curse, please shut up.)
Over the years, Pi’s value has been genuinely built through its ecosystem. It’s not something that can be sustained just by “mining,” but through a step-by-step ecosystem that is created, utilized, and spent. From the early days of closed mainnet mining and user accumulation, to the open mainnet at the end of 2025, and the series of updates on Pi Day, March 14, 2026, Pi has made very solid progress. The official team has completed a series of key tasks: KYC verified 17.7 million users, over 16.5 million migrated to the mainnet (including 119,000+ users in the second migration phase); currently, over 421,000 active nodes are running stably; more than 300 apps are live in the ecosystem; Pi Launchpad MVP is live on Testnet; Pi Payments on Mainnet are integrated into App Studio for quick deployment; node software upgraded to v20.2, Protocol 20 is online, v23.0 is planned to be completed in May; the first round of KYC Validator rewards has begun, with a reward pool reaching 16.57 million Pi. These are not just slogans but real ecosystem developments. For example, KYC is not only used internally but also planned to be open as a service to other Web3 projects and traditional enterprises for identity verification; node upgrades are not just about security but also laying the foundation for decentralized AI computing. Looking at these developments across software, hardware, virtual, and physical dimensions, the process of Pi establishing real value is already very clear.
Software dimension: This is Pi’s “brain” and rule system, including Pi Browser, Wallet, App Studio, Launchpad, and continuous upgrades to node software. Developers can directly access the official developer platform. After the Pi Day update, Pi Payments on Mainnet has been implemented, allowing developers to integrate real Pi Payments into their apps within minutes; Launchpad explicitly requires “real apps first, then ecosystem tokens,” effectively avoiding hype without substance. This software system lowers the barrier to participation so that ordinary people can easily contribute to building. The official push of KYC as a Service to the outside world further expands the ecosystem’s inclusiveness.
Hardware dimension: This is Pi’s most prominent feature. Currently, over 421,000 active nodes have formed a scale of over one million idle CPUs. The official team has partnered with the OpenMind project and successfully completed AI image recognition testing, which can return results in seconds. Detailed case studies are available; node upgrades from v19.9 and v20.2 are steadily progressing, with future updates v21.2, v22.1, and v23.0 on schedule. Node operators can voluntarily contribute idle computing power to earn extra rewards. This has transformed ordinary devices into a global distributed computing network, truly playing a role in the AI era.
Virtual dimension: This is the core on-chain part. Protocol 20 is online, laying the foundation for smart contracts; Pi DEX is progressing; some of the 300+ ecosystem apps support real Pi payments; Pi Launchpad is testing token issuance on Testnet (see official blog); KYC Validator has completed 526 million verifications, and the 16.57 million Pi rewards have also started distribution. Pi is shifting from a mere digital symbol to a value carrier capable of real transactions and forming a closed loop. It’s important to clarify the meaning of 1 Pi = 1 Pi. Five years ago, I detailed this macro concept in a live broadcast, emphasizing that Pi’s core is not to chase speculative prices on external exchanges but to establish real utility within its own ecosystem, making 1 Pi genuinely correspond to 1 Pi’s purchasing power—whether buying goods, services, or completing payments and transactions, all using Pi itself as a stable value unit. That live video can still be found online. Pi itself is not a stablecoin (it’s not pegged to USD or other fiat currencies, nor does it rely on complex algorithms or reserves to maintain price stability), but internally, it is gradually becoming a stable value unit. This is because Pi’s design focuses on utility-driven use: through in-app purchases, local P2P trading, merchant payments, and other real-world scenarios, 1 Pi can reliably exchange for goods and services of equivalent value within the ecosystem, rather than relying on external market speculation. As the ecosystem matures and transaction volume and adoption increase, Pi’s purchasing power within the community will become more predictable and stable, forming an intrinsic stability based on real use and consensus. More importantly, once Pi DEX officially launches, third-party stablecoin issuers (or even the official team under compliance conditions) can issue compliant stablecoins like USDPI, following US regulations and stablecoin laws (similar to Trump’s family issuing USD1). When merchants receive Pi, if they worry about short-term price fluctuations, they can immediately swap Pi for such stablecoins on Pi DEX, locking in value at a stable level. This flexible mechanism reassures merchants to accept Pi payments without bearing volatility risk, while Pi remains the main circulation and value measurement unit of the ecosystem, maintaining core utility. This makes the 1 Pi = 1 Pi concept more pragmatic and operable, providing an important guarantee for large-scale ecosystem adoption. As the ecosystem explodes, its quality will shift from grassroots and low-quality to professional and high-quality. Daily circulation and settlement volume on Pi will reach hundreds of billions of dollars, continuously increasing—that is, the entire Pi flow will become larger and larger. At that point, Pi’s true value will naturally reflect in its price, leading to rapid growth similar to Ethereum and Solana in their early days. This concept is already clearly implemented: the official focus is not “how much Pi is worth,” but to first activate the ecosystem, allowing Pi to form a closed-loop purchasing power internally. Through in-app purchases, local P2P trading, merchant payments, and other real-world scenarios, 1 Pi can exchange for utility of equivalent value. As the ecosystem continues to expand, merchants increase, and Pi can buy more and more, this internal value will become more stable. It anchors Pi’s value firmly on real utility and community consensus, rather than illusory market cap fluctuations. Compared to many projects that chase high prices initially and then see their ecosystems collapse, Pi’s “build the ecosystem first, then let the value naturally emerge” approach has proven to be healthier and more sustainable.
Physical dimension: This is the most grounded and crucial part. Currently, the Map of Pi shows over 148,000 merchants and sellers, and over 2.1 million users participating in local trade, service exchanges, and time exchanges (data from community and official updates). Although most merchants are still individual or small businesses, and daily Pi transaction volume is relatively limited, the overall virtual ecosystem is still in its grassroots stage, with practicality needing further enhancement—but this is normal. Any mature ecosystem requires a process: from creating a large number of seemingly “useless” early applications and participants, to gradually evolving, with those of real value and demand remaining and continuing to develop, while those without value are phased out. This is the necessary stage for ecosystem growth from quantity to quality, and Pi is steadily progressing along this path. These four dimensions are closely integrated: software provides tools and rules, hardware contributes computing power and security, virtual realizes digital flow, and physical completes real-world implementation. They support each other and are indispensable. The official team has been steadily solidifying the ecosystem—from large-scale KYC unlocks (early this year, releasing 2.5 million KYC-locked users), to node upgrades and AI testing, to payment integration and Launchpad. Historically, Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) provide clear references. ETH, during the 2020 DeFi Summer, started at about $100-300 per coin, and with the explosion of protocols like Uniswap and Compound, network usage and TVL skyrocketed, pushing the price to nearly $4,878 by November 2021, with market cap jumping from hundreds of billions to trillions. SOL, during the 2021 NFT and DeFi boom, surged from under $2 at the start of the year to thousands of percent higher, driven by ecosystem scale reaching a critical point, creating positive feedback loops among developers, users, and trading volume, causing prices to shift from linear growth to exponential acceleration. Pi now has a solid foundation: 17.7 million KYC users, over 421,000 nodes, 300+ apps, and 148K+ merchants. When the ecosystem continues to grow—reaching tens of millions of active users, thousands of high-activity apps, daily transaction volume and TVL entering the billions, and local P2P and merchant adoption fully expanding—Pi’s price will, like ETH in 2020 and SOL in 2021, shift from a linear chart to a clear acceleration. This is not speculation but a network effect law validated by ETH and SOL. The current preparations of Pi are aimed at quickly approaching this explosive threshold.
From a macro perspective, Pi has opened a very clear opportunity window for human development. It’s not the traditional government “basic income” (UBI), but a community-driven model to create Universal High Income (UHI) or Universal Basic Equity (UBE). In today’s AI-accelerated world, Pi enables ordinary people to verify their identity through KYC, contribute computing power via nodes, participate in ecosystem apps, and co-build the network to share the value created by the AI era. Pi has already demonstrated: it’s not waiting for external aid but empowering everyone with network equity, participation rights, and upward mobility. 17.7 million KYC users, 421,000 nodes, 300+ apps—these tangible numbers form a decentralized, inclusive, and universal economic system. The 1 Pi = 1 Pi concept is truly putting this inclusiveness into practice—not chasing overnight riches but allowing everyone to steadily gain their own value through genuine contribution and use. Pi is now on the right track. Although adoption and regulation still pose challenges, its direction is very clear: Pi is not just a coin but a new opportunity platform for humanity in the digital and AI age.
Finally, I want to speak for many people to relieve your frustration—(9Huang can’t take it anymore, stop whining, just map it quickly. To the moon, damn 💩).
