Pi Coin Nears Mainnet Launch Date, But Will It Happen This Time?

Summary:
• The Pi Coin development team recently extended the deadline for mainnet network migration. After six year in making, is this worth the wait?

Pi Coin has been one of the most anticipated crypto coins and its developers have kept the community on the edge for a long time. That has given room for a lot of speculations, including an IOU token that will purportedly be redeemable for the actual coin once the mainnet goes live.

While the app has attracted over 100 million downloads, its mainnet launch has been somewhat of a fairy tale story. In the latest development, the project’s developers pushed the grace period for Know Your Customer (KYC) verification to January 31, 2025.

The Pi Core Team had set a target of 15 million verifications before transitioning to the Open Network, but achieving that milestone has taken a long time. However, the figure has grown past the target and reached 18 million as of December 2024. Nonetheless, a key milestone is yet to be reached.

The Network must also have at least 10 million customers to transition to the mainnet before it goes live. The reported figure was at 9 million as of December 31, 2025, leading to the latest extension of grace period. It remains to be seen whether it will close the gap in the next three weeks.

The risk vs the reward on Pi Network

The Pi Network has a sizeable following, estimated at 60 million sign-ups. Also, its developers claim that 27,000 businesses have already expressed their willingness to adopt the coin for transactions. While these figures are yet to be proven, success in that front could arguably give Pi coin an edge over other cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin.

Many Pioneers (as Pi Network community members refer to themselves) have grown frustrated with seemingly unending postponements of mainnet migration. For a coin that has been around since 2019, it has taken too long to be able to convert it to fiat currency.

On the other hand, the Pi Core Team says it expects the Mainnet to go live in the first quarter of 2025. That spells good news to Pioneers, as it will usher them into the utility phase of their coins and the apps built on the network. For instance, the Map of Pi app will enable Pi Coin holders to locate businesses that accept the coin for payment. Another app, 1Pi Mall is an e-commerce platform on the network.