## Pi Coin Mining Revolution: Participating with Your Phone, But You Need to Know These Pitfalls

**Mobile mining sounds enticing, but the reality of Pi Coin is much more complex.**

When it comes to virtual currency mining, most people's first reaction is skyrocketing electricity bills. According to data from Cambridge University, in 2023, the global Bitcoin mining electricity consumption reached 67 to 240 TWh, rivaling the annual electricity use of several European countries, and requiring significant investment in specialized mining hardware. This situation led three Stanford PhDs in 2019 to consider an alternative approach — mining with ordinary smartphones, which consume minimal power. This project is Pi Network, and Pi Coin is its core asset.

## What exactly is Pi Network?

Simply put, **Pi Network aims to replace mining rigs with smartphones**. This ecosystem allows users to mine Pi Coins on their smartphones, then use them within the platform to buy goods, services, and various decentralized applications (dApps).

Compared to traditional virtual currency projects, Pi Network has clear advantages:

**Mining with a phone**. Traditional mining requires specialized hardware and massive electricity, while Pi Network allows anyone to participate using everyday smartphones, even without running in the background.

**Almost zero electricity cost**. This is the biggest competitive edge over high-energy-consuming coins like Bitcoin.

**Strong social features**. Users can invite trusted friends and family to join, increasing mining rewards. This design helps quickly build a community early on but also creates a breeding ground for pyramid schemes.

**Built-in native browser**. Pi Browser supports decentralized applications within the ecosystem, forming a complete application ecosystem by default.

**Addresses scalability issues**. Using Stellar consensus protocol and trusted circle technology, it theoretically supports higher transaction throughput.

## Can you buy and sell Pi Coins on exchanges now?

**The answer is: not yet, at least not on legitimate exchanges.**

Pi Coins are currently not listed on any exchanges; the project team is still working on migrating to the mainnet. The mainnet is the fully functional, decentralized Pi blockchain platform with four key features:

**Independent operation**. Once migrated, the development team will no longer control the network, achieving true decentralization.

**Fully distributed**. Transactions are verified by distributed nodes and recorded on the blockchain, ensuring security.

**Full functionality**. Supports Pi Coin transactions, cross-platform transfers, and all preset features.

**Qualified for listing**. Only then will Pi Coins meet the listing requirements of traditional virtual currency exchanges.

According to the project timeline, the migration was originally scheduled to be completed within 2024, but the conditions are quite strict: at least 15 million users must complete KYC verification, 10 million users must migrate to the mainnet, 100 applications should be running or ready on the mainnet, and external conditions must be favorable, among others. These conditions are far from being met at present.

## So how can you buy and sell Pi Coins now?

Since it’s not yet available on traditional exchanges, your options are quite limited:

**Only within the Pi Network App**. Download the iOS or Google Play version of the app to directly exchange Pi Coins, other tokens, or fiat currency with other users. This effectively creates a relatively closed trading environment.

**Completing KYC verification is crucial**. Only after passing Know Your Customer verification can you smoothly transfer your Pi Coins when the mainnet launches. As of June 2024, over 12 million users have completed verification, and in July, the team announced a six-month extension to give more users time.

## Why is the IOU price of Pi Coins so inflated?

Here, an important concept must be introduced: **IOU**.

Price data from sites like CoinMarketCap shows Pi Coin’s price, but it actually reflects the price of IOUs (tradeable promissory notes), not real Pi Coins. IOUs are issued by exchanges as placeholders, representing a promise to deliver actual tokens once Pi is officially launched.

Latest data shows Pi IOUs trading at $41.42. At first glance, the market seems optimistic, but deeper analysis reveals issues:

**Market cap is severely overestimated**. At the current price, the fully diluted market cap of Pi would exceed $4 trillion, and even just the circulating supply would be around $280 million. This is clearly unrealistic.

**Trading volume doesn’t match market cap**. In the past 24 hours, Pi IOU trading volume was less than $400,000, a stark contrast to the purported $4 trillion market cap. Such a huge gap often indicates a price bubble.

**Risks are significant**. The project might delay or cancel the official release, and IOU prices could collapse at any time. Similar futures-like tokens in history have never realized their expected value.

**Investors should be cautious**. The current IOU price likely greatly overestimates the actual value of Pi once it goes live, and there’s a high risk of price correction.

## Is Pi Coin a scam?

This is the most common question. Evaluated from three dimensions:

**Team background is transparent**. The three founders are all Stanford PhDs, with verifiable resumes, and their official website and white paper are publicly available. Scam projects often have anonymous teams, which Pi Network does not.

**No upfront investment required**. Unlike typical crypto scams that require you to send money first, Pi mining only needs a smartphone, with zero cost to participate.

**Development progress is transparent**. Since its launch in 2019, the team has maintained active communication with the community, with progress openly shared, unlike the mysterious nature of common scams.

But this does not mean there are no risks:

**KYC privacy risks**. While the project itself is relatively credible, uploading personal ID information still requires caution to prevent data leaks.

**Repeated delays in mainnet migration**. Since 2021, the migration has been postponed multiple times, and no concrete progress has been made, which can be frustrating.

**Ecosystem development lagging behind expectations**. The number of usable applications on the mainnet is far fewer than planned.

## Pi Coin development roadmap review

Here’s a summary of the project’s progress:

March 2019, three Stanford PhDs launched Pi Network, aiming to democratize mining via smartphones.

From 2019 to early 2020, the team developed the mobile app, allowing users to mine by tapping once every 24 hours, and launched Pi Wallet and Pi Browser.

2021-2022, preparations for mainnet migration began, with upgrades to security and scalability.

2023, introduced KYC security verification to make the mainnet more compliant with regulations.

Mid-2024, over 12 million users completed KYC.

Mid-2024, the team announced an extension of the grace period, indicating further delays in migration.

## Advice for investors

Pi Coin’s project itself is likely genuine and credible; the founders are non-ordinary, the technical route is clear, and it’s not an obvious scam. But that doesn’t mean it’s worth investing:

**High risks**. IOU prices are severely inflated, and once launched, the price could plummet significantly, as past cases have shown.

**Time-consuming**. Waiting since 2019 and still no mainnet, no one knows how long the future will take.

**Ecosystem concerns**. The number of real applications on the mainnet is far less than promised, raising doubts about its commercial value.

If you have already started mining and completed KYC, patiently waiting for the mainnet is a rational choice. But it’s not recommended to invest additional funds to buy IOUs, given the high risk and uneven reward profile. Keep a close eye on official updates regarding mainnet migration and exchange listings; only when it’s truly launched should trading be considered.