Pi Day 2024 marks the 5th official anniversary of the network and comes at a pivotal time when we’re preparing for Open Network.
Today we’re proud to be announcing new products and exploring how our collective work is building out Pi Network’s ecosystem vision. We’ll also share the network progress—such as in KYC, migration, Pi Node, ecosystem infrastructure and programs—towards the Open Network conditions laid out in the Open Network plan released on December 27, 2023, including a new Race to 10 million KYC event where you can share your KYC success to encourage more community efforts in achieving the Open Network milestones and help other Pioneers get KYC’ed!
Ultimately, we know that creating a strong ecosystem that supports and works for our community and the world is essential. To meet this end, Pi has been nurturing an identity-verified and inclusive Web3 ecosystem designed to be user-friendly and accessible with abundant apps and utilities for Pioneers and more to engage with. Before Open Network, we, the community as a whole, need to provide the utilities that Pioneers need in the ecosystem and make it engaging and useful for non-Pioneers as well, and we’re proud to share that we’re making progress in those fields aligned with our timelines.
For just one example of how these utilities strengthen the network, we can highlight the now completed Pi Browser – PiNet loop: the Pi Browser, as the interface of the Pi ecosystem and utilities, is opened up by PiNet to the external world where non Pioneers are able to view and interact with Pi apps, and potentially join the network as new Pioneers. With new products released this week, this completed user journey loop can help 1) open up the Pi ecosystem to the outside world, gradually moving from an enclosed state to an open state starting from the utilities aspect, 2) grow the network further, increasing our collective resources that can boost all Open Network milestones laid out in the Open Network plan, and 3) further reinforce utility creation and ecosystem building at Pi by providing utility-based entry in addition to our traditional mining-based entry into the network.
Specifically, to complete the Pi Browser – PiNet loop, we released important products recently that allow seamless user experience of the Pi ecosystem that starts from seeing a specific Pi app page shared by Pioneers via PiNet (new PiNet user journey released), be it a hilarious post or a useful service; to visiting and interacting with that Pi app on pages without login via PiNet (Pi Ad Network released to facilitate Pi app developers to build more intriguing and useful apps), then to taking actions that require Pi Browser (new Pi Browser released recently) such as for using Pi Wallet or Pi KYC; and later to mining and contributing to the network. While mining, more Pi ecosystem content will be visible in the mining app (new content feed released in mining app piloting Fireside Forum content first) that can spur Pioneers to share again through PiNet, completing and repeating the loop. The completed Pi Browser – PiNet loop is designed to provide utility, access, and ease for the community––which, in turn, will promote more activities, more Pioneers, more collective resources and more utilities.
Reviewing Progress Towards Open Network Conditions
For the network to go to Open Network in 2024, we set three conditions to be met: Condition 1 is on the Core Team preparing the network in technology, product, business, and legal domains following the consistent strategies of Pi Network; and Condition 2 is on community achieving our KYC (15 million) and Mainnet migration (10 million) goals, and fostering utility through the development of Pi apps (100 Mainnet or Mainnet-ready apps). Today let’s review our collective progress in Conditions 1 and 2.
For Condition 1, overall preparation work for Open Network is on track. Since the start of this year, we have released many products and updates (such as the major KYC update, Pi Browser revamp, Pi Ad Network launch, the ongoing #PiHackathon (such as 1 and 2), and launch of the Pi Commerce Hackathon) that not only help build out the ecosystem vision and prepare network infrastructure for the next stage but also facilitate the community to make progress in their KYC and utility milestones for Condition 2. We’re also announcing and releasing more products today to those ends. Read more for detail in later sections below.
For Condition 2, here’s the community progress:
- KYC: Over 9.45 million KYC’ed Pioneers; up from 8 million in Dec 2023.
- Mainnet Migration: Over 4.64 million Pioneers; up from 3.9 million in Dec 2023.
- Utility: 50 Mainnet or Mainnet-ready Pi apps; up from 40 in Dec 2023.
Keep in mind that KYC and migration speed is not linear. With new product and feature releases in KYC and Mainnet migration detailed in the following section, we’re calling on all Pioneers to help the network make accelerated progress towards those Open Network goals in a Race to 10 million KYC event, which will also give Pioneers an opportunity to experience and witness the merits of the new Pi Browser – PiNet loop themselves.
KYC Updates Unblocking Millions of Pioneers!
A major reason KYC is required before Pioneers can migrate and use their Pi balance, in addition to legal compliance, is so that people on the Mainnet blockchain and ecosystem are real human beings. Not only does the KYC requirement align with the original design and principle of Pi Network—one account per person—that ensures the integrity and security of the network, but it also will provide tremendous potential for platform-level utilities in the future that benefit all Pioneers. For example, Pi cryptocurrency can be potentially used to plug services that involve ownership or require human authenticity into a large crypto-enabled, KYC’ed network of humans worldwide, which will especially be a common need in a future world where AI is pervasive. This is one amazing innovation of Pi for Web3 that allows for a decentralized but authenticated ecosystem experience without the common pitfalls of Web2.
Now, we have more KYC updates that are unblocking even more Pioneers to pass KYC! While most of the work relies on the decentralized efforts of Pioneers, Core Team has done more on its part to 1) motivate Pioneers who can but have not acted on or completed their KYC, 2) give clearer instructions and convenience features for Pioneers who are stuck but did not know their actions were required to finish the KYC process, and 3) unblock Pioneers who are eager to pass but stuck in the KYC process. Through new features and community initiatives facilitating these three categories of Pioneers in regard to the KYC process, we hope to help the community advance further towards its KYC goal for Open Network. In addition to the previous KYC update in January, we are announcing the following new features that are either recently released or are planned to be released before the end of Q1 2024.
The major hurdle we’ve overcome with this update is freeing up Pioneers who are stuck due to small but incredibly important mistakes or oversights.
- Resubmission Opportunity for More Pioneers after Thorough Analyses: In early February, we allowed more Pioneers to resubmit their KYC application based on whether resubmission would resolve the cause of their KYC delay while preventing potential bad actors from having an additional chance to resubmit. This has given about 280,000 Pioneers the ability to resubmit their KYC application to get unblocked.
- Resubmission Prompts in the Mining App: Pioneers who may not know they need to resubmit to unblock themselves will now be informed by a popup in the Pi mining app notifying them that they can resubmit. This feature will inform at least 406,000 Pioneers who are eligible for resubmissions to get unblocked! Check your mining app regularly in case you can resubmit and move your application forward!
- Mainnet Checklist Update: The Mainnet Checklist on the mining app, which Pioneers need to complete before they migrate to Mainnet, has added a new Step 5 requiring Pioneers to verify their account. Many Pioneers’ KYC progress was blocked because their Pi account was not verified. Now we make the account verification requirement more prominent by adding it to the Mainnet Checklist, thus informing Pioneers who are eager to pass KYC but have remained stuck thus far to be informed and unblock themselves. Completing this step can help over 430,000 Pioneers pass their KYC application and almost 350,000 Pioneers in countries or regions that require complex review to start their KYC application. Inside the KYC app, affected Pioneers will be directed to the mining app to complete this step on the Mainnet Checklist to unblock their KYC process.
- ID Type or Country Error Resubmission: About 284,000 Pioneers who submitted incorrect ID types (their ID type does not match the document they submitted, e.g., passport vs driver’s license) or ID-to-Country errors (their country doesn’t match the country in their ID) can now fix these errors in their KYC applications without necessarily needing to resubmit the entire application as they did before.
- Name Similarity Review Consent: Pioneers needing name similarity review due to small discrepancies between their real names on their account and ID can now respond to a prompt on the mining app to give consent for Validators to review their name situations. About 447,000 Pioneers can be unblocked by taking actions with this update!
- New Liveness Checks: This update improves the KYC process going forward so that there might be fewer blocked cases in the future. Different face angles are now captured in the liveness check for new KYC applicants, and an algorithm is run to improve the automated process that identifies problematic accounts while letting good accounts to pass. One of KYC’s main tenets is one account per one person, so this update is important to ensure the authenticity of the network.
- Securing Account to Start and Finish KYC: One reason that many Pioneers are prevented from starting or finishing KYC is for the sake of the Pioneers’ own security of their account and their mined Pi. Analysis just finished by the system flags accounts that need to change their passwords before going forward, drawing on comprehensive data. The flag is also on the cautious side, meaning it’s requiring more Pioneers to take this precautionary step than absolutely necessary. This may be caused by various reasons such as Pioneers unintentionally using some malicious third-party services. This precautionary step helps protect Pioneers’ accounts and further make sure that the Pi they mined will be migrated to their own wallet on the Mainnet blockchain after their KYC approval. By taking this extra account security requirement, over 1.5 million Pioneers can unblock themselves in the KYC process.
To learn more about Pi Network’s native KYC solution, read the full article and FAQs explaining what it is, why it’s important and how it works. Help KYC move forward for more Pioneers by becoming a KYC Validator yourself and inviting your fellow Pioneer peers to complete KYC and migrate to Mainnet.
Unblock yourselves, Pioneers!
As excited as Core Team is to unblock the KYC passage of millions of more Pioneers, the even more exciting fact remains: many, many more are already eligible to start and submit their KYC application. Millions of Pioneers can now go to the KYC app and start their KYC application, while a few other millions of Pioneers who have started their KYC application but have not finished it can complete whatever is missing in their application to unblock themselves.
What does this mean for the community? In light of our Open Network target of 15 million KYC’ed Pioneers, this means the Open Network future is in the hands of Pioneers. YOU have the power to get us over the threshold. Start your KYC application. Complete it. And encourage your friends to complete their KYC as well, so they can migrate their Pi to Mainnet too
Celebrate KYC Success on Fireside Forum
We’re introducing an event where millions of KYC’ed Pioneers can celebrate on Fireside Forum and beyond. The purpose of this event is both to celebrate your success in passing KYC and also to mobilize other Pioneers to complete their KYC applications or pending actions, as part of the work to motivate Pioneers in category 1) mentioned above – Pioneers who can but have not acted on or completed their KYC yet. In addition to getting more Pioneers pass in categories 2) and 3), these Pioneers in the millions have great potential in helping the network achieve the 15 million Open Network goal fast at scale.
Inspire your Referral Team and Security Circle to do their KYC. Spread the word to your friends and on social media, so that other Pioneers can act on their KYC or we can have newer Pioneers join the network, further increasing our pool of KYC’ed Pioneers. This is what the KYC race is all about!
Event specifics
Inside the KYC app, Pioneers who have successfully passed their KYC can now press the “Celebrate Your KYC Status” button to commence a unique sharing experience.
This process allows Pioneers to create their own personalized, celebratory image. Pioneers can screenshot this image, and then post the screenshot in the #PiDay2024 Fireside Forum channel showcasing their KYC success and personal message to the community. To further amplify the celebration, Pioneers are then encouraged to share their Fireside posts across various social media platforms or to their friends and family by clicking the share button in Fireside Forum.
What’s more, an inclusive feature on Fireside Forum has been enabled thanks to Pi Ad Network where all Pioneers, as opposed to only KYC’ed and migrated ones, are eligible to engage on Fireside Forum now. This means, in addition to posting celebratory images, Pioneers can add Fire and comment on one another’s posts to celebrate our collective success as a community. Over 9 million people KYC’ed globally, with a tool built by the Core Team, validated by fellow community members, and no fiat payment involved whatsoever. A grand Web3 milestone to celebrate for the world, right?
Further, this event has the potential to not only foster a sense of achievement and camaraderie among Pioneers but also enhance engagement with inactive Pioneers or non-Pioneers by sharing these milestones publicly. This can accelerate the growth of the network through the new Pioneer journey explained in the ecosystem vision above, that, in turn, will help with the overall KYC’ed and migrated number of Pioneers towards the Open Network goal.
Helping One Another with KYC using Pi Chats and Staked DMs
We’re introducing a new chat room on Pi Chats: KYC Community Tips. Whether it’s something as simple as where to go to find the KYC app (on the Pi Browser!), how to start the KYC application, or how to avoid the pitfalls of an unsuccessful KYC application and embrace the best practices (for example, see the Tips section here), KYC’ed Pioneers can help Pioneers who are aspiring to pass KYC.
On this channel, Pi Chat moderators will also post KYC FAQs for Pioneers’ quick reference. If you write something informative about KYC on this channel, Moderators are also able to pin your post as a Topic that can be quickly accessed by all Pioneers.
Also, if you see a Pioneer seeking help and you are aware of specific tips that may apply to their case, feel free to send a Staked DM request. This way, you can connect and help your fellow Pioneer in a one-on-one chat. This is another community effort to provide peer support to each other in advancing our network’s progress towards the KYC and migration goal for Open Network.
Weaving the Web3 Ecosystem Together
Today and this quarter, we’ve released quite a few ecosystem pieces that are essential to weave out the ecosystem vision. We’re excited for the community to enjoy the different parts of the ecosystem.
We have now gone from 40 Mainnet or Mainnet-ready Pi apps in December to 50, getting us closer to our goal of 100 such apps by the time of Open Network launch.
PiNet Journey Connects New Users with the Ecosystem
As described in the introduction, the new PiNet journey completes the full ecosystem experience and helps with the growth of the network. It guides new users from their first engagement on PiNet.com to an immersive experience within the Pi Browser, and finally, to the mining app and become a full fledged Pioneer.
This pathway helps showcase to the outside world the depth and breadth of our ecosystem, emphasizing the seamless interconnectivity of our platforms and the pivotal role of community engagement in driving ecosystem growth.
Here’s the flow in action:
How can you participate? Send PiNet posts like those shared on the #PiDay2024 Fireside Forum event with your peers and social media! Share what you find to be the most impressive about Pi Network, and get others as excited about the Pi journey as you are.
Pi Apps Moved to PiNet Subdomains
As explained above, the new Pi Browser – PiNet loop allows for a seamless interaction within the Pi ecosystem for existing and new Pioneers alike. To unify Pioneers’ user experiences, we are also aligning the interfaces of Pi Browser and PiNet and keeping the domain names of Pi apps consistent. As newcomers explore Pi apps on PiNet on traditional web browsers and then transition to a full Web 3.0 experience on the Pi Browser, they are met with a consistent user interface.
Specifically, we have transitioned all Core Team apps from the pi://app_name.pi format to the more accessible https://app_name.pinet.com format (with the exception of the Pi Wallet app where the transition is ongoing). For example, the Pi KYC app URL has changed from “kyc.pi” to “kyc.pinet.com” (keep this in mind for safety as well!).
Aligning with our strategic vision, we are also extending the opportunity for community developers to use custom app_name.pinet.com domains, promoting a unified Pi app ecosystem. Expect to see more and more community apps in the Ecosystem UI to display their URLs in this format. All Pi apps can then be a part of an extensive pinet.com domain system that identifies these apps—to Pioneers and non Pioneers alike—as apps in the Pi ecosystem.
The Pulse of Our Community: A New Content Feed in Your Mining App!
Try scrolling up in your Pi mining app! We’ve introduced a new content feed directly in your mining app that now is piloting with Fireside Forum posts for now and can expand later to other apps or actions. Through this new feed, Pioneers who come to mine Pi can instantly check out what is happening in the Pi ecosystem, and tap to be readily transported to the Pi Browser for a fuller ecosystem experience.
As the network gets ready to launch Open Network, utilities take a great significance. Enhancing visibility of our ecosystem in the Pi mining app itself helps boost the utility building efforts and increase the use of Pi.
Note that content on this feed is created by community members, not the Pi Core Team, and does not reflect the views or endorsement of the Pi Core Team or Pi Network.
Pi Commerce Winners Announced: Map of Pi and PyNook
Following immense community enthusiasm shown at the PiFest event in December 2023—and active participation from thousands of Pioneers in 155 countries and regions—the need for an app enabling local merchants and customers to find each other for Pi transactions was evident. The Pi Core Team designed a prototype of such an app, and provided it to developers to build off of, thus launching the Pi Commerce Hackathon on February 1, 2024. Today, on this auspicious 5th PiDay, we are excited to announce two winners of this hackathon (drum roll, please!) – Map of Pi and PyNook!
Map of Pi and PyNook both allow Pioneers to find nearby businesses that accept Pi, and enable merchants to create a storefront for their business, simplifying the discovery of Pi-accepting businesses. Just as important, as frequently evidenced by wide scale Pioneer participation in commerce-related events, these apps address a demonstrated need in the Pi community, with the potential to unlock vast utilities of the Pi cryptocurrency in local economies around the world.
Map of Pi and PyNook stood out for their intuitive and clear UI, and their focus on the core use case of supporting and bolstering local Pi commerce. Furthermore, both apps took advantage of the Pi Open Source (PiOS) license, which means that community developers from all around the world can contribute to the growth and localization of their apps. This hackathon was only one month long, and both teams were able to come together and make noteworthy progress in such a short period of time.
Map of Pi and PyNook weren’t the only strong local commerce apps built during this hackathon; we will be highlighting several other local commerce apps as honorable mentions, so stay tuned for a full announcement on the Pi Commerce Hackathon teams following PiDay!
Node Update – Details Forthcoming
Nodes run the blockchain. Pi Network has made not only cryptocurrency mining but also the decentralized operation of the blockchain accessible through our node infrastructure. In critical preparation for the upcoming Open Network launch, important recent updates enhance Node analytics, standardize the Node application across geographic regions, and lays the groundwork for future developments in Node selection and decentralization.
Pi’s Testnet has over 200,000 computer Nodes waiting for transition to the Mainnet during the Open Network period. Collectively, these computers are estimated to possess over 1 million CPUs, making Pi Nodes one of the world’s largest distributed systems. Imagine the potential of computing on such a large scale: tasks like training a massive open-source AI model become feasible, with Pi rewards for Node operators. This opens up new, unprecedented opportunities in the world of decentralized computing, and another platform-level utility for Pi. Today we are launching an updated version of the Pi Node (0.4.9) that fixes some issues of the prior version and sets a stable ground for more features and improvements to the Nodes with the goal to launch a Mainnet-capable version of the Node later this year.
More details on the Node update will be released in a blog announcement in the near future.
Engage, Enjoy, Act!
This Pi Day, we invite every Pioneer to deepen their engagement with our ecosystem by completing their own KYC, helping other Pioneers with their KYC process, participating in the #PiDay2024 Fireside Forum event, and engaging in any of our latest ecosystem updates. Your involvement is the cornerstone of our shared ecosystem vision, driving us towards a future where the Pi ecosystem thrives and flourishes for all.
As we celebrate Pi Day 2024, let’s embrace the progress we’ve made and the journey ahead, united in our mission to create a digital world that is secure, inclusive, and filled with endless possibilities.
Core Team and Pioneers together, let’s all do our best to strike the necessary milestones and propel the Pi project into its rightful next stage – Open Network in 2024.