Pi Network's five-year investment dream shattered! 60 million miners mined for free, market value evaporated to 1.7 billion

Pi Network was the dark horse of the 2019 crypto projects, promising that anyone could mine and get rich using just a mobile phone, attracting over 60 million users. But after the mainnet launched in February 2025, the token price plummeted from a historical high of $3 to $0.2040, and its market cap evaporated from nearly $20 billion to $1.7 billion. Miners found themselves stuck in the KYC process, unable to withdraw tokens, turning five years of mining efforts into nothing but despair.

From 60 Million Users to the Fall of a Ghost Chain

(Source: Google Play Store)

Pi Network was launched in 2019 by Dr. Nicolas Kokkalis and Dr. Chengdiao Fan of Stanford University, with an extremely attractive vision: unlike Bitcoin which requires specialized mining hardware, anyone could mine Pi coins using a smartphone, with transaction costs far lower than other cryptocurrencies. This “everyone can mine and get rich” narrative spread rapidly worldwide, with Android downloads surpassing 100 million.

The project transitioned to a closed mainnet in December 2021, claiming the mainnet was ready but only operating on an internal network. This closed period lasted over three years, during which Pi Network continued to attract new users to join the mining army. Many opened the app daily to click the mining button, dreaming of wealth once Pi was listed on exchanges.

In February 2025, the mainnet finally opened, and tokens were listed on exchanges like Gate. However, the dream was instantly shattered. First, only users who completed the strict KYC process could transfer tokens from the closed mainnet to the mainnet. This KYC process was extremely cumbersome and lacked transparency; many users were rejected for various reasons, and tens of millions’ mining results were locked inside the system, unable to be cashed out.

Even more devastating, those lucky enough to pass KYC found the token value far below expectations. After briefly reaching $3 early on, the price started to crash, now down to $0.2040. Five years of persistence did not bring wealth but only despair and total loss.

Three Fatal Flaws Causing $20 Billion Market Cap to Vanish

(Source: Trading View)

The collapse of Pi Network was not accidental but the inevitable result of structural flaws. The first critical issue was the lack of listing on mainstream exchanges. Unlike many emerging crypto projects, Pi Network did not gain support from top-tier exchanges. A major CEX CEO even publicly called it a scam, which completely destroyed its chances of entering the mainstream market.

Without mainstream exchanges, liquidity was extremely scarce. Even users holding Pi coins found it difficult to find buyers when they wanted to sell, causing prices to plummet. Worse, the absence of backing from major exchanges made Pi Network appear untrustworthy to institutional investors and professional traders, further accelerating the price collapse.

Fatal Flaws of Pi Network

Ghost Chain Dilemma: Despite claiming to have an application ecosystem, in reality, it lacks real users and valuable DApps. Network activity is extremely low, earning it the industry’s label as a “Ghost Chain.”

Extreme Dilution Effect: Hundreds of thousands of new tokens are unlocked weekly, with over 1.2 billion expected to be released in the next 12 months. Continuous supply pressure crushes the price.

Centralized Dictatorship: The Pi Foundation controls billions of tokens without voting mechanisms. The community has no say in decisions, and there is a lack of transparency. This “cryptocurrency shell with centralized dictatorship core” destroys trust in Pi Network.

Ghost Chain is Pi Network’s most deadly label. Although the team claims there are applications running on the network, investigations show these DApps have almost no real users and many are deemed useless. A blockchain without practical use cases, how can its tokens have value? When investors realize Pi Network is just a shell, a sell-off becomes inevitable.

The dilution effect is a chronic poison continuously destroying the price. Unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin with a fixed supply cap, Pi Network releases millions of new coins weekly, with over 1.2 billion more to be unlocked. This means that even with new capital inflows, the increasing supply will dilute the value. Early miners’ hard-earned coins are diluted by the endless release of new coins, making the economic model fundamentally unsustainable for maintaining token value.

The centralized governance structure also fundamentally contradicts the original spirit of cryptocurrencies. The Pi Foundation, a little-known entity, controls billions of tokens without constraints. The community cannot vote on project directions, cannot oversee token releases, and even basic transparency is lacking. This “cryptocurrency shell + centralized dictatorship core” combination causes Pi Network to lose trust within the crypto community.

Can Desperate Self-Help Succeed?

Fairly speaking, Pi Network’s sharp decline coincided with overall weakness in the crypto market, including major coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum experiencing corrections. To reverse the downward trend, the team is making some changes. They are developing testnets for token generators, automated market makers (AMMs), and decentralized exchanges (DEX), hoping their DEX platform can attract users like successful platforms such as Aave and Raydium.

Additionally, Pi Network has invested in two projects: CiDi Games and OpenMind. The former will introduce gaming features, and the latter aims to make it an AI platform. The team also registered a token in Europe under MICA, which could give it a chance to list on mainstream exchanges in that region. If these initiatives succeed, they could theoretically improve Pi Network’s fundamentals.

However, whether these self-help measures can turn the tide remains a huge question mark. Developing DEX and AMM takes time, and it’s unclear if Pi Network has enough users and liquidity to support these functions. The integration of gaming and AI is even more distant, and the market has already lost patience with Pi Network.