Pi Network Open Network Countdown! Pi Coin price continues to consolidate around $0.2, what is the market waiting for?

Pi Network entered its critical “Open Network” phase in February 2025, and a series of recent major developments officially mark the beginning of its journey toward a fully open network in 2026. The core development team signaled clearly through community channels on January 13: the project’s focus has shifted from “mining” to “real applications,” and they launched a new developer SDK that reportedly can complete payment integration within 10 minutes.

Currently, the mainnet migration has reached 15.8 million users, with over 215 active applications. Meanwhile, the price of Pi Coin has recently been consolidating around $0.2, reflecting the market’s ongoing digestion of the supply increase brought by the mainnet migration. This structural transition from a closed ecosystem to full openness is entering a critical sprint that will determine success or failure.

Pi Network Technological Leap: 10-Minute Integration SDK Signals Developer Rally

Recently, Pi Core Team released a revolutionary developer toolkit that consolidates the previously scattered Pi SDK and backend tools into a simple, unified suite. The core purpose of this move is to eliminate technical barriers for developers entering the Pi ecosystem. In the past, building an app supporting Pi payments might have required handling complex system configurations and lengthy integration cycles; now, using popular frameworks like JavaScript, React, and Next.js, developers can theoretically embed Pi payment functions into their applications within minutes.

This technological leap is not just a simple tool upgrade but a clear signal of Pi Network’s strategic shift. The project’s official communications emphasize slogans like “real applications, real payments, real usage,” marking a narrative shift from early user growth (via mobile mining) to ecosystem prosperity. The new SDK acts like a carefully crafted key, aiming to open a decentralized world filled with payment apps, digital markets, games, and daily tools. The underlying logic is that only when development becomes sufficiently simple and fast can enough builders be attracted, leading to a proliferation of applications, which in turn draws real users and creates endogenous value.

From an industry perspective, lowering development barriers is an essential path for any public chain aspiring to build a thriving ecosystem. Ethereum’s early development experience was also quite complex, but with mature development tools and middleware, it ushered in waves of innovation like DeFi and NFTs. Pi Network’s move is a replication of this successful path, attempting to achieve a leapfrog in the competitive Layer 1 field through an extremely developer-friendly strategy. However, ease of tools is only the first step; ultimately, the ecosystem must provide sufficient economic incentives and user base to attract developers.

Pi Network Ecosystem Status: Protocol Upgrade and Building the Foundation with Millions of Users

Since entering the open network phase in February 2025, Pi Network’s ecosystem data has shown steady growth. According to the latest disclosures, over 15.8 million pioneer users have migrated their Pi to the mainnet, completing a key step from “on-paper assets” to transferable on-chain assets. Additionally, over 17 million users have completed KYC verification, laying a solid foundation for future compliance and large-scale applications. On the application layer, there are over 215 active apps covering social, gaming, e-commerce, and other emerging fields.

The January 2026 Protocol v23 mainnet upgrade is another major technical milestone. This upgrade focuses on three core aspects: increasing transaction speed, enhancing overall security, and officially introducing smart contract support. The completion of smart contract functionality is particularly critical, as it unlocks advanced features like decentralized exchanges, DeFi tools, and token creation. The project team also announced an upcoming governance vote linked to the mainnet progress, further advancing on-chain community governance.

Pi Network’s Key Milestone Toward 2026 Full Open Network

Current progress: Nearly one year into the open network phase, initial internal and external connectivity achieved

Mainnet migration: Total migrated users reach 15.8 million

Identity verification: KYC completed users surpass 17 million

Application ecosystem: Over 215 active applications

Technical foundation: Protocol v23 upgrade completed, smart contracts introduced

Future milestones: In 2026, achieve full network openness, unlock Pi DEX, global payments, and more

All these developments point toward a single ultimate goal: achieving complete network openness in 2026. At that time, the planned Pi decentralized exchange, richer DeFi tools, and seamless global payment networks will be unlocked one after another. Pi Network’s vision is to transform Pi from a digital number on a phone screen into a real currency used daily for shopping, gaming, and transfers. The ultimate aim of technology is to serve the ecosystem, and the prosperity of the ecosystem will feedback into technological value. Whether this cycle can be smoothly initiated depends on 2026, which will be a decisive year.

Pi Network Market and Community: Price Consolidation Reflects Expectations and Cautious Sentiment

In the face of a series of positive developments, the Pi Network community’s reactions show a typical “Game of Thrones” scenario. Long-term pioneers are jubilant, believing that the “real moment” they’ve waited for since 2019 has finally arrived. Especially in the Chinese community, many opinion leaders define 2026 as Pi Network’s “decisive year” for large-scale adoption, viewing the current SDK and protocol upgrades as the last buildup before explosion. This optimism stems from faith in the project’s large user base and long-term vision.

However, the market’s price trend tells a different story. Pi Coin has been oscillating narrowly between $0.19 and $0.21 over the past few weeks, showing more “balance” than “recovery.” This divergence between market calm and community enthusiasm reveals a deeper market logic: the mainnet migration is gradually and prudently releasing liquidity into the market. Each user completing KYC and migrating Pi to the mainnet increases potential sell pressure. Before ecological applications explode with exponential demand, this ongoing supply increase naturally suppresses rapid price appreciation.

Some cautious users point out that Pi Network has previously delayed major milestones, so they prefer to “let the bullets fly a bit longer,” advocating waiting until truly sticky “killer apps” emerge that drive actual Pi consumption before judging the network’s success. This “wait-and-see” mentality is common in crypto investing, especially among seasoned investors who have endured years of bear markets. Nonetheless, even cautious participants generally agree that the new SDK significantly lowers development barriers, which is undoubtedly a key step toward a positive ecosystem cycle. The only question is when this step’s effectiveness will fully manifest.

Pi Coin Price Analysis: Digesting Supply Increase, Awaiting Demand Breakthrough

Currently, the price behavior of Pi Coin essentially reflects the market’s digestion of the structural change brought by mainnet migration. Unlike projects that unlock tokens via one-time events, Pi Network’s gradual migration mechanism based on KYC results in a slow but continuous increase in circulating supply. Early community estimates suggest that by early 2026, circulating Pi could reach about 8.38 billion coins. Each migration cycle introduces new, immediately transferable tokens, directly shaping price trends: at certain price levels, sell orders become more available, while demand remains selective, limiting upward momentum and making rebounds more fragile.

(Source: TradingView)

From a technical perspective, the $0.19–$0.20 demand zone has formed a solid support, repeatedly absorbing sell pressure since late 2025. However, holding above this zone does not mean an immediate reversal. For Pi Coin to shift from “consolidation” to “trend expansion,” it must break through and stabilize above a key resistance at $0.2155. This level is a former support turned resistance, tested multiple times recently, confirming supply pressure in this area.

Momentum indicators like RSI are currently around 45, indicating a neutral market sentiment—neither strongly oversold nor overly bullish. This further confirms that the market is in a period of balance between bulls and bears. If Pi Coin’s future price can rise with increased volume, successfully reclaim $0.2155, and RSI also moves into a bullish zone, it could open technical space for a move toward $0.26–$0.28. Conversely, if resistance persists, the market will need more time to digest supply, and prices may remain range-bound, delaying recovery. In short, Pi’s short-term price is dominated by the “supply digestion” structural logic, while long-term value depends on whether “ecosystem demand” can be effectively created.

In-Depth Analysis: What Is Pi Network? Its Economic Model and Roadmap

For readers not yet deeply familiar, a fundamental question is: What is Pi Network? In brief, it is a mobile-first blockchain project originating in 2019, rapidly accumulating a large global user base through its unique “mobile mining” mode. Users do not need to consume computing power or electricity; just tap a button daily to participate in “mining.” Its core mechanism is earning rewards by contributing to security circles and network growth. This low-threshold approach led to viral spread early on, with registered users claiming over a billion.

Its economic model is designed to balance broad distribution with value accumulation. Pi’s issuance rate halves periodically as the user base grows and the network advances, until the mainnet phase halts mining. Currently, it is in a critical transition from the “mining era” to the “practical era.” Token release mainly depends on mainnet migration and KYC verification, an attempt to tie token distribution to real identities and potential use cases. The project repeatedly emphasizes its goal to build a consumer-grade blockchain driven by daily applications, not just financial speculation.

Reviewing its roadmap, from initial testnets to the February 2025 launch of the “Open Network” phase, and now counting down to the 2026 “full open network,” Pi Network’s pace has been somewhat delayed but generally follows the white paper’s outlined path. The entire evolution logic is clear: first, gather users (build the network), then develop technology and infrastructure (set the stage), and finally promote application deployment and ecosystem prosperity (stage the show). Now, the stage is mostly set; whether the performance will be spectacular depends on the joint efforts of developer communities and global pioneers.

Pi Network Future Outlook: Application Ecosystem and Value Capture Challenge

Looking ahead, Pi Network’s challenge is no longer just technological feasibility but more severe ecosystem construction and value capture. The convenient SDK and robust protocol are the “sword,” while over 15 million migrated users are the “shield.” But this army needs to conquer the harsh real-world application market. Will a Pi app with over a million daily active users emerge? Will merchants truly accept Pi payments conveniently? These are the golden standards for measuring the success of its open network.

On the other hand, the final test of the token economy model is approaching. When mining fully stops, how will network security and operational incentives be maintained? Will it rely on transaction fees, or future DeFi and staking mechanisms? How will Pi’s inflation and deflation mechanisms be designed to balance ecosystem participation incentives and coin stability? These are questions that must be answered after the network’s full openness in 2026.

For investors and community members, a “strategic patience” may be advisable at this stage. On one hand, understanding the complexity of transitioning from a closed system to an open economy, the market needs time to comprehend and digest ongoing structural changes (like supply increases). On the other hand, closely monitoring ecosystem development metrics—such as active developers, total transaction volume, on-chain active addresses—rather than short-term price fluctuations or community slogans, is crucial. Pi Network’s story has entered its most captivating yet challenging chapter; whether it will become a consumer-grade blockchain connecting billions or be remembered as a grand social experiment depends on the next two years.