1. Pi Network Project Background and Mainnet Milestones

Pi Network is the first public blockchain project to implement decentralized mining through mobile terminals, aiming to lower the barrier to entry for cryptocurrency. According to the white paper, its core goal is to build an inclusive financial ecosystem through social fission and a low-energy consensus mechanism. As of February 23, 2025, the market performance of the Pi Network token PI has steadily increased, with the current price at $1.1931. Over the past 24 hours, the PI has traded in a range of $0.68 to $1.77, with a 24-hour trading volume of 439.22M PI, indicating strong activity and volatility in the market.

Source:gate.io spot trading

Key Data (as of 2025/02/23)

Source:Pi Network - AiCoin

2. Pi Network Market Reaction and Capital Flow

With the official launch of the Pi Network Mainnet and the gradual improvement of its ecosystem, the market’s capital flow has shown different reactions from retail investors and whale accounts, reflecting the gradually established market attractiveness and potential of Pi Coin in the Mainnet environment.

The following is an up-to-date analysis of capital flows:

Overview of fund flow:

In the last 24 hours, Pi Network’s inflows came mainly from retail investors, accounting for 49.95% of the total inflows, or $733.48M. At the same time, the inflow of funds into the whale account, although relatively small, accounting for only 0.22% of the total inflow, amounted to $3.2M, indicating a moderate focus on large investors.

Retail investors and whale account fund flow:

• Retail capital inflow: The active participation of retail investors indicates the success of the Pi Coin Mainnet in attracting ordinary users, traders, and small investors. With the launch of the Mainnet and the fluctuation of token prices, the participation in the retail market has significantly increased, injecting new vitality into the Pi Coin ecosystem.
• Whale Money Inflows and Outflows: While whale accounts have a low percentage of money flows, they are still keeping an eye on them in the early stages of the mainnet. The moderate participation of such large investors may have brought more stable market liquidity to Pi Coin.

Detailed analysis of capital flows:

• Whale Net Inflow: $286.64K

• Net retail inflow: $4.67M

• Outflows:

• Whale outflow: $319.18K

• Retail outflows: $728.8M

Analysis of large orders and small orders:

• Bulk order inflows: $305.2K, outflows of $319.18K, suggesting that large investors are making adjustments to their assets, possibly evaluating the long-term potential of the mainnet.
• Small order inflow: $733.48M, this data reflects the high participation of the retail market, especially against the backdrop of Pi Coin price fluctuations, attracting a large number of small investors to enter.

Source:Pi Network - AiCoin

3. The Implications of Capital Flow for the Pi Network Ecosystem Layout

The fund flow data in this section indicates that with the launch of the Pi Coin Mainnet, its ecosystem has attracted active participation from a large number of retail investors, especially showing outstanding performance in DApp applications and community involvement. The inflow of funds in the retail market and the increased market activity reflect that the Mainnet architecture of the Pi Network is creating value for a broader user base, especially driven by decentralized applications (DApps) and trading platforms.

From the perspective of value capture, the inflow of funds from retail investors is not only a recognition of the market value of Pi Coin, but also provides great motivation and market demand for developers and DApps in the ecosystem. This demand will drive the emergence of more innovative projects and applications, laying a solid foundation for the long-term development of the Pi Network.

4. Pi Network technology architecture and node network

Pi Network adopts an optimized version of SCP (Stellar Consensus Protocol), combined with the Security Circle mechanism to enhance decentralization. As of February 2025, over 10,000 community nodes have been deployed globally, with the Asia region accounting for 42%. The node reward formula includes online rate, port openness, and CPU contribution, incentivizing long-term stable network operation.

Node Operation Challenges:

• Operation and maintenance costs: Regular user nodes need to maintain a high online rate (>90%) continuously to receive full rewards
• Security risk: Open ports (31400-31409) may face DDoS attacks

Source:White Paper | Pi Network

5. Pi Network ecological layout and popular scenes

Pi Browser has integrated more than 200 DApps, covering the following three scenarios:

Value capture logic

• Lock-up reward: Users can receive up to 2x mining bonus by locking PI. Currently, 4.78 billion PI is in a locked state (accounting for 75% of the total circulation).
• Usage Reward: Users who use DApps for more than 30 minutes daily will increase mining efficiency by 15%-40%.

6. Pi Network Market Performance and Price Prediction

After the Mainnet went live, the price of PI fluctuated drastically, with a range of 1,110% from February 20th to 22nd, reflecting the market’s divergence on long-term value. Gate.io perpetual contract data shows that the long/short position ratio is maintained in the range of 1.2-1.5, and leveraged trading is active.

Source: AI price prediction model

Summary

Since the mainnet of Pi Network went live on February 20, 2025, it has experienced significant market fluctuations, showing strong market attention to its long-term value. The launch of the mainnet marks Pi Network’s transition from a simple mining experiment phase to a complete ecological layout phase, attracting a large number of retail investors’ participation, while also facing moderate intervention from whale accounts. The DApp ecosystem of Pi Network is gradually unfolding, with applications in multiple fields entering the market, including payment finance, social entertainment, and gaming metaverse.

However, the Pi Networ k faces some key challenges. First of all, how to balance technical decentralization and user experience, especially the high cost and high online requirements of ordinary users to run nodes, may become a bottleneck for their expansion. Secondly, the matching of token release with market demand still needs attention, especially since there will be a large number of Pi Coin unlocked in 2025, and how to ensure that these tokens are effectively consumed in the market is crucial. In addition, Pi Network also faces the challenge of localized compliance in global governance, especially in the Asian market, where its strong user base still needs to face different regulatory policies in different countries.

If Pi Network can continue to attract developers and promote the widespread application of high-frequency payments, social, and gaming scenarios, its ‘mobile-first’ strategy may become a key case for the large-scale adoption of Web3. However, the long-term sustainability of the token economic model still needs close attention, especially regarding the inflation pressure and market acceptance that may be faced between 2025 and 2026.