What is Pi Network?
Pi Network is a digital currency project that focuses on making cryptocurrency mining easily available, and how well to achieve that than through mobile phones. The native token of the Pi Network is the Pi coin. Cryptocurrencies that came before like Bitcoin are genuinely not accessible to everyday users, Pi Network has set a platform making mining much easier than the first generation cryptocurrencies. The Pi Network which was developed by a team of Stanford Computer Science graduates, enables users to mine coins using its mobile phone app, validating transactions on a distributed ledger. The Pi Network mobile app is available for free on the Google Playstore as well as the Apple Store. The Pi mobile app does not require special permissions to run unless prompted for consent from the application. It is easily compatible with most mobile phone brands.
According to the Pi Network white paper, the project developers outline that in third phase, "only accounts validated to belong to distinct real individuals will be honored". This KYC process in a nutshell is the updating of personal information and proof of identity as required by law to curb fraud and easier customer management. The whitepaper further states: "This is the phase when Pi can be connected to exchanges and be exchanged for other currencies." Many Pioneers are keen for this to happen as they expect some value for the coins they have mined over the long haul. This gives a sense of reward at some point the future.
One of the main threats facing maintenance of a distributed record of transactions is security. More precisely, having an open and public ledger while shielding against fraudulent and malicious activity. Pi Network nodes use an algorithm based on the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP). In comparison with the pre-existing consensus algorithms (the process that records transactions into a distributed ledger in the blockchain), the Stellar Consensus Protocol stands out as one of the leading candidate to enable user-friendly, mobile-first mining. Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) was developed David Mazières. He is a renown Computer Science professor at the Stanford University who also serves as Chief Scientist and engineer at the Stellar Development Foundation. The SCP consensus algorithm uses an apparatus known as Federated Byzantine Agreements to ascertain that the integrity of the ledger updates The SCP has been used on Stellar Blockchain on a test capacity. The Stellar Blockchain has been in operation since 2015 with its native token being the Lumens token. This is in contrast with nodes on most high end cryptocurrency networks such as Bitcoin that use proof-of-work (PoW) protocols.
With branding based on the number π (the literal Pi symbol), Phase 1 of the project launched in 2019 on Pi Day, 14 March, with a free Pi mining app. By mid 2019, the network had more than 100,000 active engagements. Since then, upon the launch of Phase 2 the following year, users actively interacting and mining through the app surpassed 3.5 million. By the end of 2021, Pi Network announced the user engagements had risen to an impressive 29 million, this was from just 14 million in March the same year.
The coin was designed to undergo regular “halving” to protect its scarcity as have other crypto projects like Bitcoin (there can only be 21 million bitcoin in circulation). The concept of halving can be explained as when the number of coins a miner receives for processing new transactions is reduced by half. Halving often happens when a certain milestone is reached concerning the mining of a certain coin. PI coin mining rate halved from 1.6 π/ hour when active users attained were 100,000, halved again to 0.4 π/hour when the users were 1 million, and halved again to 0.2 π/hour when the users were 10 million. The halving will continue until reaching zero at 1 billion users upon which no more coins can be mined or added to the ledger.
We are not going to shy away from the issue that keep arising when Pi Network comes up in a crypto discussion. Is Pi Network a scam? How legit is the project? Is it safe to keep running the app? Well this article only aims at equipping you with the best information about PI Network so as to make informed decisions. Critics have made comparisons on Pi crypto to a multi-level marketing (MLM) scam that holds no value. As of 9th March in 2021 there are still no coins being traded; meaning no transactions and no fiat rewards. There are plenty of crypto faithful who see it as an opportunity. This means getting involved in a cryptocurrency from the ground up and possibly profit sometime in the future. They probably hope for the same as he early bitcoin (BTC) adopters who have racked up gains from mining and holding the coin. Despite all the chatter, the team behind Network Pi says it is a "genuine effort by a team of visionary crypto developers to give everyday people greater access to cryptocurrency". Since the establishment of Pi Network, there have been other platforms offering similar mobile app mining capabilities and using the same concept. They include Eagle Network, Star Network and Bee Network just to name a few.