The Pi Network is currently living one of the hardest moments of its life.

The project, launched in 2019 by a group of Stanford PhD students, quickly gained notoriety in the crypto space

The Pi Network is currently living one of the hardest moments of its life. Launched in 2019 by a group of Stanford PhD students, the project quickly gained notoriety in the crypto space due to its innovative approach to crypto mining, allowing miners to use everyday technology like tablets and smartphones to mine the $PI token.

The project quickly gathered a large community of “Pioneers’, who joined the Pì Network looking for an early stake in what was marketed as a revolutionary, mobile-first cryptocurrency. In 2021, the Pi Network began an enclosed mainnet phase, restricting transactions within its ecosystem while developers worked on security, infrastructure, and KYC verification processes. This period allowed early adopters to accumulate PI tokens, but without external exchange listings, the asset remained largely speculative.

After years of buildup, the $PI token officially launched its open mainnet on February 20, 2025—allowing unrestricted transactions and exchange listings for its native token $PI. The altcoin quickly gained traction, reaching an all-time high of $2.92 only 6 days after, according to CoinMarketCap.

However, this initial excitement would be short-lived. Shortly thereafter, the token succumbed to selling pressure, losing a substantial amount of its value.

BitMart Suspends $PI Trading

By March, the token had already been listed on several exchanges, quickly rising through the ranks of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

The first sign that the Pi Network was in for a tough time was when the cryptocurrency exchange BitMart unexpectedly suspended $PI trading on March 27, 2025. Later, it was revealed that the project failed to comply with KYB (Know Your Business) verification for a 1:1 token swap, leading the platform to essentially delist the token.

At the time, Bitmart attempted to stop the bleeding of $PI tokens leaving the platform by offering a 30% annual percentage yield on $PI. But nonetheless, this development triggered panic selling within the community, causing the altcoin to enter “freefall” mode for the entirety of the month.

Token Unlocks Flood PI’s Supply

Adding to the issue, two pre-scheduled token unlocks released millions of $PI tokens into the market, amid a major confidence crisis for the Network. A significant token unlock released 108.9 million $PI tokens into circulation, saturating the market and amplifying selling pressure.

Only eleven days later, the developers issued another unlock, this time of 5.6 million $PI tokens. By the end of March, $PI traded at $0.65, down by a whopping 71% over the month.

Signs of Recovery: Can Pi Network Rebuild Trust?

Things started to look a little better by April for $PI holders. In this month, the development team released a token migration roadmap, which outlines a three-phase migration to the open mainnet—covering base mining rewards, referral bonuses, and eventually ongoing migrations.

While the roadmap was still the target of criticism for its lack of clear, strict, and concrete timeliness—the token appeared to finally have reached a consolidation period. The Bitmart debacle appeared to be heading to a conclusion as traders gradually resumed full trading activity, and liquidity began to return.

Despite this, many question why the Pi Network team allowed such a meltdown over a relatively simple KYB process. The issue worsened when Banxa, a crypto exchange that had purchased $19 million in $PI tokens on April 7, suspended PI transactions due to the team’s failure to meet its KYB requirements on April 27.

X crypto analyst Dr. Altcoin suggests that Pi Network has been repurchasing tokens from exchanges in an attempt to stop the bleeding in its currency value.

If true, this strategy turned out to be successful as $PI behaved a lot less volatile in April than it did in the previous month. Today, April 29, the token is trading at $0.57, down by around 5% over the last 24 hours.

After nearly a month of uncertainty, Bitmart resumed PI trading on April 25. Meanwhile, initial reports suggest Banxa will resume PI transactions this week.

Pi Network’s leadership is set to tackle these concerns at Consensus 2025, happening May 14–16 in Toronto, where Nicolas Kokkalis is scheduled to speak. Will this be a turning point for Pi? Stay tuned—bookmark us, we’ll be covering it all!