Pi Network to unlock 190 million tokens in December! 35 million users worry about price drop

Pi Network’s core team has issued an announcement stating their goal to make the project a key driver for the next stage of Web3, emphasizing that its mobile-first design will allow millions of new users to integrate into the digital economy faster than traditional blockchains. However, the plan to unlock 190 million Pi tokens in December 2025 remains a hot topic within the community, as users debate whether the unlock will stimulate liquidity growth or further depress prices.

190 Million Token Unlock Becomes Community’s Biggest Controversy

(Source: PiScan)

The plan to unlock 190 million Pi tokens in December 2025 is still a hotly debated topic in the community, and the increased mining speed for the aforementioned inactive or returning users is putting additional pressure on Pi’s initial economic system. The debate centers on whether the unlock will stimulate liquidity growth or further depress the price of IOUs, especially given that Pi’s OTC trading price is only in the $30 to $40 range.

Unlocking 190 million tokens is a considerable scale. Calculated at the current OTC price of $30, these tokens would be worth about $5.7 billion. However, this calculation involves major liquidity assumptions. The $30 OTC price is formed in an extremely low-liquidity environment, possibly with only a small number of trades. When 190 million tokens actually enter the market, prices could crash if there isn’t enough buying support.

Optimists believe the unlock will stimulate liquidity growth. As more Pi tokens become freely tradable, more exchanges will be attracted to list Pi, providing deeper order books and narrower bid-ask spreads. Improved liquidity, in turn, attracts more investors, forming a positive feedback loop. Additionally, unlocked tokens can be used to pay developers, incentivize ecosystem projects, and establish liquidity pools—all necessary steps for ecosystem development.

Pessimists worry that the unlock will further depress IOU prices. Pi Network’s IOUs (“I Owe You”) are tokens traded by some users on the OTC market before the mainnet is fully open. The current $30 to $40 price has already dropped significantly from earlier highs, and if another 190 million tokens flood the market in the absence of real use cases and strong demand, the price could collapse further to $10 or lower.

Four Key Issues with Pi Network Token Unlock

Who will receive the unlocked tokens: Early contributors, team members, or all users? Each group’s willingness to sell varies greatly.

Unlock conditions: Will it be a one-time unlock or a linear release? The release pace determines market pressure.

Are application scenarios ready: Is there a sufficient number of dApps and services to consume the unlocked tokens?

Exchange listing progress: Will mainstream exchanges provide liquidity support before and after the unlock?

The answers to these questions will determine whether the unlock event becomes a turning point for Pi Network’s development or devolves into a disastrous sell-off. The Pi core team highlights its Web3 ambitions and the power of the community in its announcement, but is vague about unlock details and risk control measures, and this lack of transparency is increasing community anxiety.

Mainnet Delays Fuel Lingering Trust Crisis

Despite plans to launch in February 2025, delays in opening the mainnet continue to affect community expectations. Pi Network’s mainnet development has been delayed multiple times, from the initial promise in 2021 to now February 2025, a span of more than four years. Each delay erodes community patience and confidence, and whether the current “February 2025” commitment will be fulfilled has become the community’s main focus.

The impact of mainnet delays is multifaceted. First, it hinders ecosystem development. Developers cannot build reliable dApps and services on an unstable testnet, so despite Pi Network’s huge user base, it lacks real-world use cases. Users can only hold their Pi tokens or trade them OTC, but cannot use them for payments, staking, or participation in DeFi activities.

Second, the delays create a psychological trust crisis. When a project repeatedly makes promises and misses deadlines, the community begins to question the team’s execution ability and integrity. Some users see the mainnet delay as a sign of technical shortcomings, while others doubt whether the team ever intends to launch a full mainnet or just wants to maintain the status quo to attract new users.

Third, the delays have caused Pi Network to miss its market window. The 2021-2022 period was the peak of the crypto bull market. If Pi had launched its mainnet then, it might have garnered significant attention and capital inflow. Now, the market environment has changed, competition is fiercer, and Pi, as a latecomer, will face greater challenges in gaining traction.

In its latest announcement, the Pi core team emphasizes its Web3 ambitions and global opportunities but lacks transparent explanations for the mainnet delays and the new timeline. This PR strategy attempts to shift the community’s focus from the delays to vision and sentiment, but without substantial progress, its effectiveness is waning. The community is increasingly unwilling to accept empty promises and is demanding concrete development milestones and verifiable technical progress.

Mobile Mining Advantages vs. the Paradox of Missing Token Utility

Pi Network continues to promote its well-known mobile mining model. The team keeps highlighting this concept, reminding users that Pi requires no power-hungry hardware or high entry costs. This message reinforces Pi’s original goal of making mining accessible, especially as global mainstream markets pay more attention to energy-efficient blockchain solutions.

Mobile mining is indeed Pi Network’s biggest innovation and selling point. Users only need to open the app and tap a button once a day to earn Pi token rewards. This extremely low participation threshold allowed Pi to accumulate 35 million registered users in a short time—a number that surpasses most crypto projects’ user bases. From a user acquisition perspective, Pi Network is undeniably successful.

However, the mobile mining model also brings fundamental economic problems. Traditional proof-of-work (PoW) mining requires real electricity and hardware costs, which provide a production cost floor for mined bitcoins. Pi’s mobile mining is almost cost-free, meaning Pi tokens lack a clear production cost base. When users can obtain tokens for nearly nothing, where does the economic value of these tokens come from?

A more serious issue is the lack of token utility. Bitcoin can be used for payments and as a store of value; Ethereum can be used for gas fees and DeFi; Solana can be used for NFTs and gaming. Pi tokens currently have almost no real use. Users accumulate large amounts of Pi with nowhere to spend them. This lack of utility makes Pi more like game points than a real cryptocurrency.

The Pi core team has tried to create use cases through collaborations with external projects such as CiDi Games, but these efforts are nowhere near enough in scale or speed to absorb the massive amounts of Pi tokens held by 35 million users. When supply (continuously increasing through mobile mining) far exceeds demand (few use cases), downward price pressure is inevitable.

Three Structural Contradictions Facing Pi Network

User base vs. activity: Of the 35 million registered users, a very small proportion are actually active on-chain.

Mining convenience vs. token value: Zero-cost mining leads to supply glut, with no production cost support.

Web3 ambition vs. technical delays: The team paints a grand vision, but mainnet development keeps missing deadlines.

Polarized Community Sentiment and Future Outlook

Community responses to Pi’s long-term adoption are both optimistic and skeptical. Optimists believe Pi Network is solving a real problem—lowering the barrier to blockchain participation so that billions of people worldwide with no technical background can join the crypto economy. They see the 35-million-user base as Pi’s greatest asset, and believe that once the mainnet is fully open and use cases mature, these users will generate massive network effects.

Skeptics question Pi Network’s business logic and technical capabilities. They point out that after four years, the team still hasn’t launched a full mainnet, showing a possible lack of blockchain development expertise. The $30 OTC price is far below many users’ expectations, and if prices drop further after the mainnet opens, many users could lose everything. The most extreme skeptics even suspect that Pi Network is a disguised Ponzi scheme, continually attracting new users to maintain hype but never actually launching a usable product.

The community remains restless, with pioneers closely monitoring every update to assess the potential for real-world application. Each team announcement is scrutinized for substantive technical progress or dismissed as empty vision statements. The latest announcement emphasizes Web3 opportunities and community strength, but lacks a concrete mainnet development roadmap or unlock risk control measures, triggering polarized community reactions.

Pi Network’s future hinges on whether it can fulfill its mainnet promise in February 2025. If there is another delay, community confidence could collapse, leading to a massive user exodus. If it launches but use cases remain scarce, prices could plummet under unlock sell pressure. Only if the mainnet launches smoothly and ecosystem applications develop rapidly can Pi Network convert its 35-million-user base into real value.