Pi Network mainnet to happen in Q1: Is Pi coin a good buy?

The Pi Network price continued its downtrend this week, reaching a low of $38, its lowest swing in almost three months. It has dived by more than 56% from its all-time high as investors wait for more direction on the mainnet launch. So, how will the Pi coin token trade ahead of the upcoming mainnet launch?

Pi Network is preparing for the mainnet launch

Pi Network, which we have covered before here and here, is one of the most popular players in the crypto industry. Launched in 2018, the network has accumulated over 50 million users, while the Pi Browser has had over 100 million downloads. 

Pi Network aims to become the biggest and most useful cryptocurrency project in the industry by making it easy for people to mine the token. Anyone with a smartphone can receive an invite and become a pioneer. 

Pi’s network has been in development for the past few years, with many pioneers mining and accumulating millions of coins. 

The challenge, however, is that these coins have been worthless since holders had no way of selling them or converting them into fiat currencies. Worse, the developers have left the Pi Network into an enclosed mainnet since 2021.

An enclosed mainnet is a state where the blockchain is live to members of the ecosystem only. It is different from a public mainnet where users can interact with the network and developers can build. 

The developers have hinted that the mainnet launch will happen in the first quarter of this year. However, these creators have been wrong before, meaning that the mainnet launch may be delayed again. 

Earlier last year, they promised that the mainnet launch would happen in 2024, which did not happen. Their goal is to have the launch when at least 10 million pioneers have migrated their tokens to the mainnet. 

The first deadline for these pioneers to do their KYC verification was in November, which was then postponed to December 31 and January 31. The hope is that the mainnet launch will happen in the first quarter once the verification process completes. 

Pi hopes to be a better coin than Bitcoin

Pi Network hopes to be a better cryptocurrency than Bitcoin and other coins. The most notable change is that it is fairly easy to mine since it uses the tap-to-earn approach. After receiving an invite, one needs to install the app and tap for more coins. 

Unlike Bitcoin, Pi Network hopes to have dApps in its ecosystem, which would give the Pi coin utility. About 80 Pi apps will now become public to people when the mainnet is launched. 

Pi Network has also hopes to be a universal currency accepted by sellers worldwide. The Map of Pi, a top dApp in its ecosystem, has already registered over 27,000 shops willing to accept the Pi coin once it becomes available.

Still, the biggest challenge for Pi Network price is that there seems to be a divergence between its developers and the pioneers. The developers want the token to become an alternative to the US dollar, while pioneers just want to make a quick buck. 

This divergence means that the Pi coin price will likely crash after going public as many pioneers sell their tokens. 

We have seen this before as many “to earn” tokens have crashed over time. Some of the most notable of these tokens are Hamster Kombat, Sweat Economy, and Catizen. 

These developments explain why the Pi Network IoU token has crashed in the past few weeks. This IoU is only available on HTX and is not associated with the developers. It is often seen as the best proxy of the main Pi project.