Pi Network mainnet launch sees Pi coin rally over 35%

Pi coin surged over 35% less than an hour after its highly anticipated mainnet went live.

Pi Network, the closely followed tap-to-earn cryptocurrency network,  launched its open mainnet today, Feb. 20, at 8 am UTC. The launch was a significant milestone for the project, which has been in development for over six years and has operated in an enclosed mainnet since 2021.

With the mainnet launch, Pi community members, referred to as pioneers, can trade their Pi coins while developers on the network are able to showcase their work to a global user base. Developers have already built over 100 applications catering to various sectors, including decentralized finance and gaming.

Unlike traditional proof-of-work networks, Pi enables users to mine PI via a mobile application, making participation accessible to a global audience.

This accessibility has driven massive adoption, with millions of users engaging with the network even before its official launch. Pi Network currently has over 3.8 million followers on X, more than the Ethereum Foundation, Solana, and other major networks. At its peak, the project boasted over 50 million users.

The Pi Network mainnet launch was highly anticipated due to its scale. As soon as the Pi mainnet went live, several centralized crypto exchanges, including OKX, HTX, Bybit, MEXC, Gate.io, BitMart, and Bitget, listed Pi coin (PI).

Meanwhile, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has taken a different approach by conducting a poll on whether it should list PI. The poll will run until Feb. 27, and the result is unlikely to change.

Other prominent exchanges, such as Coinbase, Kraken, and Upbit, have not confirmed whether they will list Pi Network’s coin.

Pi Coin sees major volatility following listing

Pi Coin’s price saw significant volatility following its listing on crypto exchanges. Per data from CoinGecko, PI is up 36.8% within the first hour after securing multiple listings, hitting a high of $1.97.

At press time, Pi Coin was trading at $1.8 on OKX and $1.78 on Bitget, marking a steep drop from the speculative IOU prices of $61 to $70 seen just a day before the mainnet launch.

Shortly after listing, the altcoin briefly surged to $3.4 on Bitget before quickly retracing to its current levels. Meanwhile, on Bybit, PI’s price fell below the $1 mark shortly after trading commenced.

Nevertheless, Pi Coin could see further gains as its large community base and newcomers looking to cash in on the hype continue to accumulate the token. The hype surrounding potential listings on major exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken could further drive buying pressure as investors position themselves in anticipation of a price rally.

However, these gains could be short-lived if early miners, who have been accumulating Pi for years, start cashing out. Hype-driven rallies often face sharp pullbacks, and history shows that newly listed tokens tend to experience heavy sell-offs before finding a stable price range.

Further, since these tier-1 listings could come days or even weeks later, the current hype might be cooled by then, reducing the impact on price action.