For millions of Pi Network users, 20 February 2025 was supposed to be the start of something big. After years of tapping a button on their phones, the open mainnet finally arrived, and with it, a community-fueled obsession with a $10 price tag.
However, peel back the hype, and you’ll find a reality check rooted in hard numbers and serious questions about the project’s design.
At its heart, Pi runs on a version of the Stellar Consensus Protocol, which ditches the massive energy drain of Bitcoin. Your phone isn’t actually “mining” in the traditional sense; you’re just building small, trusted “Security Circles” to help verify transactions.
This low-effort approach is how Pi managed to create a maximum supply of 100 billion coins – A staggering figure. The plan dedicates a huge 80% chunk to the community, rewarding people for daily check-ins and growing their networks.
The biggest hurdle to a $10 PI isn’t fancy technology—it’s basic arithmetic. With a reported 7.4 billion coins already circulating by early 2025, hitting that price would demand a market cap of $74 billion. That would instantly catapult a project, fresh out of its enclosed system, into the same league as crypto titans, a feat few have ever achieved. The pressure only gets worse as billions more in rewards are unlocked, threatening to flood the market and dilute value.
Mainnet launch, controversies and more…
The open mainnet launch didn’t bring the expected windfall though. After a brief spike, the price cratered. In fact, some reports claimed an 84% crash, as those who got in early rushed for the exits. By summer 2025, the coin was struggling to stay above fifty cents on the few platforms listing it or its IOUs.
This was the case at the time of writing too, with the altcoin valued at $0.41 after falling from $2.80.
Source: TradingView
Pi Network has always operated under a cloud of controversy. Critics point to a lack of genuine transparency, with the core team holding tight control over the network’s nodes and delaying features like smart contracts for years. The referral system, which heavily rewarded bringing in new people, has drawn constant comparisons to multi-level marketing.
Then there’s the massive data collection – Millions handed over government IDs and face scans for the mandatory KYC process, raising serious privacy alarms. Looming over everything is the threat from regulators like the SEC, who might see Pi not as a utility but as an unregistered security, triggering a legal nightmare.
Pi’s greatest weapon is its colossal community, which numbers over 65 million people. That’s a built-in user base that most crypto projects can only dream of, and initiatives like “PiFest” are trying to spark real-world use. However, that same crowd is also its biggest liability.
For every believer holding on for dear life, there’s another early user sitting on a pile of free coins, tempted to cash out. This creates a constant, crushing sell pressure that could keep the price pinned down for a long time.
So, can PI ever reach $10? It would require a miracle of market demand, flawless execution, and a whole lot of luck. The project needs to prove it’s more than just a popular app. It needs to become a truly useful ecosystem that makes people want to use Pi, not just sell it.
Until that happens, the $10 goal feels less like a target and more like a prayer in the wild world of crypto.
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