Pi Network's 2026 annual in-depth investment research report: Can the world's largest identity verification Layer 1 public chain pass the ultimate experiment of "encircling people first, building an ecosystem later"?

Original author：加密头条

Original source：https://www.youtube.com/embed/4tLu4LkQ0og

Pi Network adopts the reverse strategy of "encircling people first, then building the ecosystem" and has accumulated more than 35 million registered users worldwide in six years, of which 18.1 million have completed KYC identity verification and 16.72 million have completed mainnet migration, making it the identity verification Layer 1 public chain with the largest user base. The project was founded by a Stanford PhD team in 2019. It initially detonated the emerging market with the social fission of "free mobile mining". After opening the mainnet in February 2025, it gradually turned to a practical blockchain platform with KYC as a service, ecological token framework and AI tools as the core. The total number of tokens is 100 billion, of which about 60.4 billion are currently in circulation, 80% of which are allocated to community mining. The mining rate decreases exponentially on a monthly basis to curb inflation. However, 96% of circulating tokens are concentrated in the top wallets, and will face about 1.65 billion unlocking pressures in 2026, posing a significant sell-off risk. At the technical level, Pi innovates the "security circle" trust mechanism based on the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP), activates the Protocol 23 hard fork in May 2026, introduces Rust smart contracts, DEX and DeFi functions for the first time, increases the target TPS to 5000+, and upgrades Stellar Core to version 19.6.0. In terms of ecological construction, there are more than 300 mainnet applications, including Pi browsers, wallets, domain names, on-chain games, etc.; legal currency channels cover 70 countries through TransFi, Banxa, etc. In terms of market performance, the PI token is currently about US$0.19, with a market value of nearly US$1.88 billion. It has been listed on OKX, Gate, Kraken and other exchanges, but the absence of leading exchanges limits liquidity. In March 2026, it received an investment of approximately US$200 million from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) (valued at 25 billion) and completed MiCA registration in the EU. Controversies and challenges coexist: There is a gap between active wallets on the chain and official migration data, and doubts about zombie accounts remain; trust in the security circle lacks economic incentives, and the ability to resist attacks needs to be verified; ecological demand has not yet matched supply expansion. The second half of 2026 will be a critical observation period for whether the smart contract ecosystem can gain momentum and whether token unlocking can be digested. As an experiment with high odds and high uncertainty, Pi Network's fate depends on compliance and breakthroughs in real applications.