The image above is not mine. I first shared this in the Facebook group chat I created on July 31, 2021. The image seems "prophetic." The big difference in her face in 2021 compared to the present year demonstrates the expression of many faces since the mainnet launch last February 20.
Upon the request of one pioneer, I decided to create a new group on Facebook. Its name is Understanding FinTech: blockchain, crypto, DeFi, NFTs, parachains, and Web 3.0.
Revisiting an Old Group Chat
My first step was to revisit the old group chat and collate all my posts there related to the whitepaper. However, before I started with the whitepaper, I mentioned the first post I made in that group. It is about an article that implies that Pi is a scam.
In response to that insinuation, I shared a Reddit link. Unlike the biased interpretation of the aimultiple article writer, the Reddit link is more comprehensive and informed. It also contains a file showing a court case between the couple-founders and their founder friend. This shows objectivity on the part of the Redditor who compiled all the relevant information in his article.
I refused to comment on the lawsuit and challenged the members of the group to make up their minds. If they think the case would affect the vision of the company, then they could leave the group anytime.
After four years, we now witnessed that with the Open Mainnet launch last February 20, the Pi Network was received warmly by the crypto market. This is evident by the surge in market price reaching the all-time high of $3.00. Contrary to the expectations of many, particularly those who bashed the project, the Pi token demonstrated a contrarian strength when all cryptocurrencies were in decline.
Except for the lawsuit, the couple had a marital problem. Nevertheless, the project was advancing.
A General Overview
The Pi Network has two whitepapers: March 2019 and December 2021. I digested and simplified the March 2019 version, and I am planning to do the same with the December 2021 update, depending on my availability.
Since 87% of Bitcoin was owned by only 1% in 2021, this tells us that Satoshi’s dream failed. Now that governments and giant investment companies like Blackrock have already involved Bitcoin in their portfolios, I think the percentage has increased even more. I don’t know anyone personally who owned even just 0.5 of a Bitcoin. Pi's vision is to address this anomaly. The creators of this token want to make crypto accessible to the masses through a mobile app.
Phase 1, the distribution of currency is done. Beginning in July 2021, that’s the last stage of distribution. I didn’t expect that the distribution would last four years.
The goal is to reach 100 million pioneers globally. Pi started with just 10,000 in May 2019 and reached 21M on July 12, 2022. We don't know how long it will take to reach 100M. Once 100M has been reached, mining will stop.
Under Phase 2, or the Testnet, the goal was to test the software first before it would transfer into the mainnet. I didn’t expect at that time that there were two subphases of the mainnet: the enclosed and the open. Many pioneers got frustrated. My team shrank from 55 to 2 in December 2021 when the Open Mainnet failed to launch.
Supply and Market Cap
If you check https://piscan.io/, several observations can be made. Out of the 10.2 billion total supply, the circulating supply of Pi is 6.6 billion, and the locked Pi is 5 billion. Combining all the Pi in 5 KYB’ed crypto exchanges, the total Pi traded in the market is just 223 million. This tells us that a large portion of the total supply isn’t available in the market. To me, this implies four things:
With the experience of Pi creators, they know a huge supply of the token isn’t good for its market price when the demand is still low. Given this fact, they devised diverse mechanisms, such as incentivizing with a higher mining percentage rate the pioneers who will lock their tokens for a longer duration.
Given such a mechanism, it now makes sense why the price of Pi is surging, though at the moment, it is now undergoing a retracement. For an Elliotician technical analyst, that's not a surprise. After a strong rally, it is but natural for traders to take profit. Nevertheless, this does not negate the fact that the current available Pi on crypto exchanges is smaller compared to the demand. The natural outcome of that is a higher price.
Since the duration of the lockup varies from two weeks to three years, once those Pi have been released to the market and the token has not been integrated yet into the real economy, the possibility of the token dilution might drive the price down. However, if more businesses all over the world integrate Pi into their payment systems, I think the token’s price will either stabilize or will gradually increase through the years. Remember that the token has been out there in the wild just for 8 days now, and yet in terms of market capitalization, it surpassed many strong names in the crypto space. Imagine the potential in months to come.
The long-term lockup shows that many pioneers view Pi positively. They believe in its long-term potential and anticipate a higher price in the future.
I think that's it for now. In my next post, I will start with the introduction and preface of the whitepaper.
If you are curious about Pi Network, you can download the app by following this link. You also need to have a Bitget account where you can transfer your Pi from your Pi wallet to a crypto exchange and exchange it for your currency.