Pi Network token hits record low at $0.32, shaking investor confidence

"When I installed the app four years ago, I believed the project would succeed," Hoang Mai, a Pi investor in Quang Tri Province in central Vietnam, says. "I didn’t expect it to reach thousands of dollars, nor did I think it would be as high as the GCV consensus, but I did hope for a few dozen dollars per token."

She says that, by inviting family and friends to join the Pi Network, she earned Pi tokens through the platform’s referral system, accumulating over 3,000 of them. At its peak in March a token was worth $3, making her holding worth $9,000. But its value has declined steadily, leaving investors like Mai unsettled.

By early August the price dropped to $0.32, its lowest since launch, and has hovered around that level since. "If anyone asks me about Pi now, I think they are mocking me," she says. "Deep down, I’m planning to sell my tokens as my trust has run out."

Nguyen Khang, 47, of Lam Dong Province in the Central Highlands, once an enthusiastic promoter of Pi, including posting on Facebook groups and creating content for YouTube and TikTok, is no longer very interested in it. He used to post five to seven Pi-related contents a day across platforms.

He accumulated more than 10,000 Pi over the last three years and transferred 2,500 of them to his wallet, making them available for trading on cryptocurrency exchanges. "But for the past two weeks, since the constant price drop, I’ve stopped posting new content or making videos," he says. "After it dropped to $0.32, I sold half of my tokens to protect myself in case the price continues to decrease."

User interface of Pi Network app on a smartphone. Photo by VnExpress/Bao Lam

Hoang Ha of the central Nghe An Province, who discovered Pi later than others but had strong faith, invested over $2,000 in it when the price was $1.6, and added another $4,000 across four price drops, with the last purchase at $0.4. But the recent drop to $0.32 has made him reconsider his decision. "I’ve already cut my losses on part of my holdings, and I’ll sell the rest if the situation worsens."

On social media, some of Pi Network's once-vocal supporters are also beginning to waver as the price shows no signs of recovery. Hoang Anh, a Facebook group administrator with over 100,000 Pi Network members, says negative posts about Pi have become more frequent over the past month. "I’ve had to limit approvals, but the number of those posts keeps increasing."

Analysts predict Pi’s price will continue to hit new lows in the near future. According to blockchain news outlet Cointribune, low purchase volumes, a lack of significant accumulation and investors’ wait-and-see attitude are causing the continued price fall. It says an absence of fundamental catalysts is putting pressure on Pi Network’s development.

The token is being traded without significant buy signals or community events that could spark demand, and there has been no notable advancements in the network such as commercial integration or strategic partnerships, it points out. All these factors are increasing caution, if not outright disillusionment, among Pi investors, it adds.

Beincrypto shares a similar view, saying Pi Network's stagnation is reflected in the loss of community momentum, which was once its strength. It says uncertainty surrounding the open mainnet transition and the token’s practical utility has only fueled skepticism. It warns that, if no clear progress is made, Pi can fall into "oblivion" due to extreme volatility and a gradual exit of long-term holders.

Nguyen Ha Minh Thong, founder of venture fund Cabo Capital in HCMC, says Pi’s price drop to new lows each month signals a severe loss of market confidence. He points out the paradox of Pi’s fully diluted valuation (FDV), the index used to estimate the total value of a cryptocurrency project, being pegged at $35 billion, a figure that is comparable to established projects with clear user bases and applications. In contrast, Pi’s trading volume remains very low, with liquidity almost nonexistent at times. "This reflects a sense of discouragement and the absence of new capital," Thong says.

"A high FDV without real value is misleading to new investors. It is an illusory value that does not reflect any of the elements of a serious project."

"FDV is theoretical and does not equate to real value when most tokens are not circulating, and there is no actual demand."

Pi’s low trading volume signals a "dead signal" from the project, he fears. Without new investors or real liquidity, the community is growing increasingly impatient and disillusioned, he points out.

"A cryptocurrency project cannot survive on community alone without real products and liquidity."

Launched in 2019 Pi Network promoted itself as a way for users to mine the crypto for free by tapping a button in its mobile app daily. Vietnam is among the countries with the most miners. The project has been controversial, taking nearly six years to launch its mainnet before finally allowing users to transfer Pi to exchanges for trading on Feb. 20 this year.

But the project is still viewed as an incomplete blockchain initiative, lacking smart contract functionality and open-source transparency. To date the development team has only introduced limited updates, including a domain name auction feature, the PiFest shopping campaign and a few small-scale applications.