Pi has released a technical update allowing millions of Pioneers to complete Mainnet migration! Another update unblocking hundreds of thousands of Pioneers to submit KYC applications will be coming in the next few weeks as well.
Pi will also be releasing a beta testing-phase palm print authentication feature that may help the system process additional liveness checks, account verification, and more. Meanwhile, KYC Validator rewards distribution continues to make progress and remains on track for deployment by the end of March 2026.
These updates not only enable more Pioneers to participate in the Mainnet ecosystem, but also further reinforce Pi’s two major strengths: 1) the size of the community and 2) the fully identity-verified Mainnet blockchain.
Overall Pi has reached 16 million Mainnet migrated Pioneers, distinguishing Pi as a massive identity-verified blockchain.
Millions of Pioneers unblocked for Mainnet Migration
Nearly 2.5 million Pioneers who were previously blocked due to additional security and compliance checks in certain regions are now able to fully migrate to Mainnet!
For those eligible to be unblocked by this update, the system will automatically migrate their transferable balance if they are active in mining and have completed the Mainnet Checklist.
Why are some migrations or KYC unblocked in batches? Different groups of Pioneers are stuck in the migration or KYC processes by different corner cases, such as the requirement of additional checks, evaluation and determination of their tentative KYC status, account security measures before migration, etc. Each corner case requires custom technical solutions to resolve the undetermined state for those affected accounts, to make sure the process allows as many genuine Pioneers to pass while catching the bad actors or policy violators. Once such a custom technical solution gets completed and released, the group of Pioneers resolved by this solution gets unblocked. Therefore, the cadence of unblocking, unlike the general continuous KYC and migration process for most Pioneers, is determined by the release of these technical solutions.
Over 700,000 additional Pioneers soon able to submit KYC applications
Within the next few weeks, more than 700,000 Pioneers who were previously ineligible will be able to submit KYC applications, while the network continues processing their accounts to ensure the integrity of Mainnet migration at scale. As this processing continues, the applications of these unblocked Pioneers may require additional analysis to determine their KYC.
Once the update is released, if you were previously blocked from KYC, please open the Pi app and check whether you are able to move forward. Submitting KYC as soon as possible helps position your account for next steps.
Exploring palm print verification in KYC for further authentication
Pi will be testing palm print authentication as a beta feature to explore its potential use within the network. This additional authentication method focuses on verifying human authenticity while offering different privacy preservation, as it does not require showing a face. For example, for Pioneers who already require multiple face liveness checks or identity re-checks, palm prints could potentially be used as part of broader authentication and security flows.
Possible future applications include use in identity verification for the purpose of account recovery and protection, password resets, two-factor authentication, and other security-related use cases.
The beta feature will soon be released in Pi KYC to a subset of Pioneers and then further evaluated.
KYC Validator rewards distribution aimed for Q1 2026
Validator rewards distribution continues to make progress in line with the previously announced timeline. Its design was finalized, implementation was completed, and currently the work is being tested. Testing is incredibly important, as it affects the distribution of Pi payments to KYC validators for their work in the KYC process of millions of Pioneers. The target remains deployment by the end of this quarter (March 2026).
As mentioned previously, the first validator rewards distribution requires significant work to assess and analyze the immense volume of KYC validation task data accumulated since 2021. The amount of work is attributable to the following:
- Volume of task data: hundreds of millions of validation tasks at different stages
- Complexity of task data: variations on task types, results, and quality, in addition to tasks conducted at different phases of KYC processing (beta, testing, bootstrapping, and scaled phases)
- Fairness of rewards in the distribution design and source of funds
- Scalability of the system architecture distributing these rewards to millions of validators currently, and also to support future reward cycles
- Calculation accuracy and the security of distributing these rewards on the Mainnet blockchain
These updates reflect ongoing efforts to expand access to KYC and Mainnet migration, enabling broader participation in Pi’s ecosystem. Complete your required KYC and Mainnet migration steps if needed, and become a KYC validator to contribute to the KYC progress of your country or region today.
