Tech & Product Update – Q1 2023

1. Mass verification of millions of Pioneers’ identity via a native, scalable KYC solution, followed by the migration of their mobile mining balance to the Pi Mainnet

2. Creation of real utilities for the Pi cryptocurrency through the Pi ecosystem

Remember, meeting these goals can only happen when all participants—the Core Team, community developers, and Pioneers—make their own respective efforts to prepare the network for its maturity and readiness for the Open Network period. 

As always, this tech and product update focuses on what the Core Team has been working on and the features and work items that are relevant and interesting to Pioneers. This may omit Pi Network’s innumerable efforts and deployments related to miscellaneous interface revisions, backend, scalability, community success and bug fixes. 

Ecosystem and App Building

Pi Network has put in significant efforts to advance app development resources and the Pi ecosystem, which together facilitate the use and building of real utilities for the Pi community. 

In short, we want Pioneers to experience a built-out Pi ecosystem integrated with Pi cryptocurrency that both Pi app developers and Pioneers can benefit from—more apps means more use cases and utilities-creation opportunities for everyone on the network.

These efforts are defined by the two criteria below and work in conjunction with one another:

• Building ecosystem infrastructure and Pi developer features and resources to bootstrap and facilitate utilities creation and Pi apps building for Pi’s community of over 45 million Engaged Pioneers.

• Cultivating Pi apps and utilities through various programs that incentivize development, such as the most recent Q1 2023 Hackathon, Pi community outreach, external business development, and internal Core Team-created apps.

Here are a few features we’ve worked on and deployed:

• Testnet Ecosystem, the new interface to engage with Testnet apps in the Pi Browser, provides Pioneers with a preview of how the Mainnet Ecosystem might look—a central hub of selected apps/utilities with Mainnet apps criteria. With Testnet Ecosystem:

  • Pioneers can explore the Pi apps (including some Hackathon apps!) in the Pi ecosystem and support the developers’ efforts by interacting with their apps.

  • Community developers can give Pioneers exposure to their Pi apps to test and iterate to build full-fledged apps.

  • These in-development apps are allowed in the Testnet Ecosystem by minimum initial criteria to maximize open collaboration and visibility in community utilities building—Pioneers should use them at their own discretion with the expectation that they are still under development.

  • Read the Pi Day announcement to learn more about the Testnet Ecosystem.




• App to User payment feature was released on Testnet to test payment flows from app developers to users.

  • To help grow utility for Pi, we’re allowing new types of payments for developers to integrate into their apps and develop full-fledged intended functionalities.




• Developer Wallets were released on Testnet, as specific wallets, for app developers to hold and utilize Pi for the apps they are developing.

  • The wallets can be created and integrated into their Testnet applications on demand. 

  • For Mainnet Developer Wallets, Pi is conducting some testing and review of Testnet Developer Wallets and will make it available on the Mainnet once the review has concluded. Mainnet wallets will require developers to submit an application for review prior to obtaining a Mainnet Developer Wallet. Developers are currently able to file an application for a Mainnet Developer Wallet. 




• Q1 Hackathon was held from January 9 to March 5 to foster the building of mobile web apps that address a real user need, support the use of Pi cryptocurrency, and ensure that the apps are intuitive to use and accessible to everyday people.

  • We received over 360 eligible project submissions from Pioneers around the world, and over 200 more post-deadline submissions.

  • Among the Hackathon submissions were a variety of strong use cases like social media apps, financial apps, marketplaces, games, news apps, ecosystem apps, and many more. Read here to learn more about the Hackathon winners we chose!

  • Developers, if you haven’t launched an application yet, keep building because more exciting programs are coming! 




• Brainstorm App improvements were made so Pioneers and developers can more easily explore various ideas and pair up with like-minded people to build innovative apps, and apps can be reviewed, vetted and rated in a decentralized manner by Pioneers. Brainstorm also has an added emphasis on Hackathon-related support, such as the following. A large portion of the recent Q1 Hackathon was run on the Brainstorm App.

  • Project/Ratings of Hackathon submissions

  • Technical support and integrated experience for Hackathon submissions and project reviews across multiple tools

  • Remember: Brainstorm is a collaborative effort. Head over to the Brainstorm app in the Pi Browser to create your own project, join an existing project, or vote on other Pioneers’ ideas!




• Pi Open Source (PiOS) Software License was released to empower Pi Community Developers to create open source applications and tools for the Pi Ecosystem and foster collaboration among Pi community developers within the Pi ecosystem. 

  • Pi developers now can have access to PiOS-licensed programming libraries of editable code templates and material, all available for them to iterate on and experiment with. 

  • This wealth of collective Pi knowledge can allow our users to develop and learn at scale and from each other, all while saving time.

  • The PiOS license grants unrestricted use of the software only within the Pi Ecosystem.

  • PiOS was successfully used by numerous 2023 Q1 Hackathon developers when developing and sharing their Pi Apps’ source code, including four of the winning projects.

  • Read more about PiOS here.

Mainnet and General Updates

In addition to releasing developer features to support utility growth, Pi Network is continuing its work to improve the Pioneer experience in-app, on the Pi website, and for Mainnet migration.

• Post Migration Lockups are being developed.

  • Allows Pioneers to create new lockups within their Mainnet Pi Wallet, after Mainnet migration.

  • This is an essential feature for the Mainnet ecosystem, to further support a healthy and smooth ecosystem and incentivize long-term engagement with the network.




• Pi Chat Migration is in the process of a major infrastructural change that will allow faster development and deployments of future chat features.

  • Making major changes to the Pi Chats backend infrastructure to enable this migration.

  • This will allow for improved stability on both  the Chat app and the rest of the Pi services, especially during traffic peak times.

  • Overall, this helps improve the experience for millions of Pioneers to interact with one another every day, where community Moderators help answer questions and maintain policies to ensure a safe, informative and productive environment for all.

  • This also paves the way to further development and new features on Pi Chat. 




• Pi Website Design Revamp was released on Pi Day, with a renewed look, feel and content. In addition to the appearance, this new website helps streamline content and news to more Pioneers in the community, thus improving the design and user experience.

  • Visit minepi.com to learn more about Pi Network and the new features we’ve added, including a dedicated Developer page.




• General Improvements to the Mainnet Migration funnel were deployed, including various efficiency improvements to infrastructure, onboarding, user experience, and more.




• Improvements to Translations were made within the Pi mining app.

  • Added multiple translations and fixed missing translations throughout the app.

  • Now, more Pioneers from different regions will be able to interact with Pi in their native language

KYC for all

Open-for-all KYC is an exciting advancement achieved last quarter, delivering what the entire community has been looking forward to.

• While the majority of the Network has been able to submit and pass KYC anytime they want,  the special “Tentative KYC” program gives some accounts with more complex verification requirements a chance to proceed with KYC while exercising caution before granting them a “passed” status. 

• Pi has allowed many of the newly KYC-enabled accounts to apply through the Tentative KYC program while ensuring the integrity and accuracy of the network KYC.

In addition to Tentative KYC, In-app notifications were released for Pioneers to remind and encourage their Referral Team and Security Circle members to start their own KYC and migration processes. 

• Similar to the mining reminders that Pioneers have been already using to ping their teams to mine, this feature promotes decentralized efforts to speed up the network’s progress in KYC and migration, so we can get closer to the Open Network.

• To help the massive network go through KYC and migrate to Mainnet, you can notify your team from the Pi mining app to remind them to start their own KYC and migration process.

Enclosed Mainnet: All Hands on Deck!

Now that all major essential infrastructure components for the KYC and ecosystem have been released and aligned, it is time for Pioneers to join forces and build towards the two Enclosed Network goals mentioned earlier: (1) KYC and Mainnet migration of the network and (2) utilities creation and ecosystem building. 

This Product/Tech update, similar to the Pi Day announcement, is meant to inform of efforts being made and inspire Pioneers to take action together towards these goals. We hope that by understanding our ecosystem’s product development progress and the new tools made available, Pioneers will be motivated to make more diverse decentralized efforts to contribute to Pi Network and help it achieve its Enclosed Network goals faster.

To learn more about concrete actions you can take to help Pi Network overall, read the full Pi Day announcement.