Pi Network News Today: Pi Hackathon rewards 160,000 Tokens, but the price has big dump by 93%.

Pi Network's news today focuses on the contrast between ecosystem development and price performance. At the end of August, the team will launch the Pi Hackathon 2025, where the top eight teams will receive a reward of 160,000 Tokens, and the AI platform Pi App Studio will be upgraded to enhance the accessibility of application creation. However, the current PI price is reported at $0.20, a big dump of 93% from the historical high of $3 in February.

Pi Hackathon 2025 Launches 160,000 Token Rewards

Pi Network today's news focuses first on the proactive measures for ecological expansion. At the end of August, the team behind Pi Network launched the Pi Hackathon 2025, an event encouraging pioneers to create real-world applications to expand the utility of the PI Token. To boost participation enthusiasm, the top eight teams will receive a prize of 160,000 tokens. This prize scale is considered medium in cryptocurrency hackathon events, but it holds significant appeal for participants in the Pi Network community.

Although the hackathon was originally scheduled to be held on October 15, the Pi Network team has yet to reveal the details of the final results. This delay or lack of transparency is not uncommon in the history of the Pi Network, which has faced criticism since its launch in 2019 due to the unclear timeline for the open mainnet. The goal of the hackathon event is to inspire developers' creativity and find practical application scenarios for the PI Token, thereby increasing its intrinsic value.

Theoretically, this strategy is reasonable. Many successful blockchain ecosystems, such as Ethereum and Solana, have attracted a large number of talented developers through hackathon events, fostering innovative applications in areas like DeFi, NFTs, and gaming. However, the challenge faced by Pi Network is that its mainnet has not yet fully opened, and many functions are still in the testing phase, which limits the types and scale of applications that developers can build.

Another recent development is the upgrade of the artificial intelligence platform Pi App Studio. The core team has released a new update “aimed at making application creation more accessible, customizable, and integrated into the ecosystem.” Pi App Studio is a low-code or no-code application development platform that allows users without a technical background to create applications based on the Pi Network. This strategy of democratizing development tools aligns with the “inclusive” vision that Pi Network has always emphasized.

Pi Network Recent Development Highlights:

Pi Hackathon 2025: 160,000 Token rewards for the top eight teams to promote practical application development.

Pi App Studio Upgrade: AI-assisted development tools lower the threshold for application creation and enhance ecosystem participation.

Testnet Continuous Optimization: Improve daily operational processes in preparation for the full launch of the mainnet.

Mainnet Development Roadmap and Community Expectations

A popular X user appears to be a fan of Pi Network co-founder Nicolas Kokkalis, summarizing the project's recent milestones and looking ahead to possible future developments. Regarding the testnet, they pointed out ongoing testing, AI-assisted development tools to improve daily operations, and the launch of community-building applications that benefit a broader ecosystem.

User X envisions the launch of the mainnet development, such as enhanced security protocols, smart KYC, and wallet systems, as well as further application integration. The smart KYC (Know Your Customer) system is a key component of Pi Network, as the project has consistently emphasized preventing bots and fraudulent accounts to ensure that each participant is a real person. However, the slow progress of the KYC process has also been one of the long-standing sources of dissatisfaction within the community.

They concluded, “Pi Network is evolving from the testing phase to practical applications and implementation stages. This shift will unleash true decentralized value for all pioneers.” This optimistic narrative is common within the Pi Network community but stands in stark contrast to the performance of the Token price. Supporters believe that once the mainnet is fully open and practical applications are deployed on a large scale, the value of the PI Token will significantly increase. Skeptics point out that Pi Network has been operating for more than five years, but the progress of the mainnet opening has consistently fallen short of expectations, and this delay has weakened market confidence.

From a technical roadmap perspective, Pi Network is indeed making gradual progress. However, compared to other blockchain projects, its development speed is relatively slow. Ethereum took less than two years from concept to mainnet launch, and Solana took only about three years from whitepaper release to mainnet launch. The long development cycle of Pi Network is partly due to its large user base (claiming over 50 million registered users) and strict requirements for KYC verification, but this has also raised questions about project management efficiency.

Price big dump 93%, becoming one of the worst performing cryptocurrencies

The most shocking part of today's news about Pi Network is its price performance. Contrary to the progress of Pi Network, the price of its native Token remains one of the worst-performing cryptocurrencies (at least among the top 100 cryptocurrencies). Currently, its price is about $0.20 (according to CoinGecko data), with a monthly fall of 42%, which is a big dump of 93% compared to the historical high of $3 set in February.

Such a huge price fall is not uncommon in the cryptocurrency market, but the situation with Pi Network is more complex. First, the circulating supply and total supply of PI Token have always been opaque, making market capitalization calculations and price analysis difficult. Second, a large amount of PI Token is still locked or has not yet entered the public market, and this supply uncertainty exacerbates price volatility.

The increase in the amount of PI stored in cryptocurrency exchanges and the upcoming unlocking of Tokens suggest that bulls may face greater losses in the short term. As of the writing of this article, there are over 412 million PI stored on these platforms, with nearly half of the PI amount on Gate, and about 116 million PI will be issued in the next 30 days. Both of these factors could lead to increased selling pressure.

The increase in the amount of PI stored on exchanges is often seen as a bearish signal, as it indicates that holders are prepared to sell rather than hold long-term or use for ecosystem applications. Gate.io concentrates nearly half of the exchange storage, and this concentration also brings liquidity risks; a large-scale sell-off could lead to significant price fluctuations.

What is even more concerning is the token unlocking schedule. According to data from piscan.io, approximately 116 million PI will be unlocked and enter circulation within the next 30 days. This is equivalent to about 28% of the current exchange reserves, and if this additional supply enters the market without corresponding demand support, prices may further fall.

Community confidence shaken, 54% expect recovery after 2026

(Source: X)

At the same time, the PI community has begun to lose hope regarding whether the asset price can quickly return to its historical high. Earlier today, the Pi News account on X conducted a survey among users to predict when PI might hit a new high. Most people (nearly 54%) expect it to happen in 2026 or later, while 33% believe it will occur within this cycle.

This change in community sentiment is worth noting. One of the core advantages of Pi Network is its large and active community, where many “pioneers” (the term used by Pi Network for its users) have maintained a high level of enthusiasm for the project over the long term. However, the ongoing price fall and repeated delays in the mainnet launch are eroding this confidence.

54% of users expect to return to the peak in 2026 or later, which means that most community members have given up hope for a price recovery in the short term. This downward adjustment in expectations may create a self-fulfilling prophecy: if holders generally expect the price not to rise in the short term, they are more likely to sell during any rebound, thereby suppressing upward price momentum.

Three Major Challenges Facing Pi Network:

(Source: PiScan)

Oversupply Pressure: 412 million coins in exchanges + 116 million coins about to be unlocked, significant selling pressure in the short term.

Mainnet open progress is slow: Five years of development still not fully open, weakening market confidence.

Limited practical application scenarios: Although hackathons and development tools have been launched, cases of real large-scale applications are still scarce.