I have been closely following the evolution of Pi Network over the past few months, and honestly, it has become a fascinating story of tension between ambition and reality.

When this project started in 2019 with the Stanford team, the idea was appealing: a cryptocurrency accessible to everyone, mineable directly from your phone, without expensive hardware or massive energy consumption. Tens of millions of users bought into the hook, attracted by the vision of true democratization in the crypto world. The model was clever, I must admit — prioritizing community participation, then gradually opening up the network.

But here’s the problem: behind this beautiful facade lies a token unlocking mechanism that is beginning to show its limits. And I’m not talking about a gradual and controlled increase. No, it’s much more brutal than that. The unlocks happen in massive waves, concentrated over short periods, creating huge supply shocks.

On July 15, 2025, it was a warning that couldn’t be ignored. In just one day, 337 million Pi tokens entered circulation. The result? The price plummeted by 25% in a short time. It was a lightning crash, brutal, clearly showing how the market reacts when supply explodes without enough demand to absorb it.

And that was just the beginning. Before December 2025, more than 620 million tokens were to be unlocked. At this point, there was enormous pressure on the stability and value of the network. Concerns about price drops and liquidity tensions began circulating seriously within the communities.

What we are now observing is that Pi Network is going through a critical test. The “community first, circulation later” model was interesting in theory, but in practice, it creates a situation where the value faces a real survival test. Users who believed in the initial vision are now wondering how the project will handle this increasing supply without everything collapsing.

It’s a textbook case of what can happen when a cryptocurrency builds its foundation on an attractive promise but then has to face market realities. To be watched closely.