Pi Network's native token (PI) has experienced a sharp decline, dropping more than 50% in the past 24 hours.

Pi Network's native token (PI) has experienced a sharp decline, dropping more than 50% in the past 24 hours. The cryptocurrency was trading at $0.8405

The price of Pi Network’s native token (PI) has dropped sharply, declining more than 50% in the past 24 hours. The cryptocurrency was trading at $0.8405 at press time, despite positive news from the project’s team.

On May 14, the Pi Foundation announced the launch of Pi Network Ventures, a $100 million fund to support startups building on the network. The initiative will function similarly to a traditional venture capital firm.

The fund will focus on startups across multiple sectors, including generative AI, gaming platforms, FinTech solutions, e-commerce businesses, and social media platforms, in addition to blockchain-native companies.

“Pi Network Ventures plans to support not only blockchain-native startups, but also a wide array of businesses in generative AI, gaming platforms, FinTech, embedded payments, marketplaces, social networks, and other real-world applications,” stated the Pi Foundation.

However, despite what appears to be a major development, the market reacted negatively. Pi Network dropped from a daily high of $1.30 to a low of $0.8552 before settling near $0.92.

The sharp drop suggests that the announcement may have fallen short of market expectations. Many traders had perhaps anticipated a major exchange listing, which would have brought real liquidity and improved price discovery to the token.

Community Backlash

The price drop also comes amid growing frustration within the Pi Network community. Some members have expressed feelings of “betrayal” over the lack of functioning decentralized applications (DApps) on the platform despite years of promises.

Dr. Altcoin, a prominent voice in the Pi Community, slammed the core team’s announcement: “Today the Pi Core Team announcement about Pi Network Ventures is nothing short of a betrayal to the Pioneer community, the very people who built this project from the ground up over the past six years.”

He further claimed that the core team has neglected early community members and undervalued their contributions. According to his statement, more than 94% of Pioneers who helped build and sustain the network failed to acquire 1,000 Pi tokens due to the team’s policies regarding referral bonuses.

The Pioneer community comprises around 70 million members from 200 countries. These early supporters feel their efforts have been minimalized as the project pursues broader global ambitions.

PI’s market capitalization has taken a substantial hit. After reaching $11.12 billion earlier this week and briefly overtaking established cryptocurrencies like Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, Pi Coin has lost nearly $5 billion in valuation over just three days.

Another factor contributing to the recent price volatility may be a 5.2 million token unlock, which has put additional selling pressure on the market.

From a technical perspective, PI shows mixed signals. The token is trading above important moving averages, including the 50-day simple moving average and the 10-day exponential moving average, both suggesting buy signals.

The relative strength index stands at 57.24, indicating a neutral market position with some indecision. However, the moving average convergence divergence points to short-term bullish potential.

If PI manages to stay above the $0.85 support level, there could be an opportunity for recovery toward $1.10. But if it drops below this support, a retest of the $0.74 area may occur.

The current price of PI is $0.8881, with daily trading volumes rising by 35% to $951 million.