A Brief History of PI:
2018: Dr. Nicolas Kokkalis, a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University, and Dr. Chengdiao Fan (Chinese name: 范成雕), a PhD in Behavioral Science, began to conceive a mobile cryptocurrency project, with core team members including Vincent McPhillip and other Stanford alumni.
2019.3.14: Pi Network officially launched on Pi Day, releasing the iOS beta app, pioneering the "mobile mining" model, allowing users to earn tokens by clicking the lightning button every 24 hours.
2019.5.22: The Android version of the app went live, with global users surpassing 100,000.
2019.12: The white paper V1 was released, proposing a three-phase roadmap: Phase 1: Token Distribution (closed mainnet), Phase 2: Testnet (starting in March 2020), Phase 3: Mainnet Launch.
2020.3: The number of testnet nodes exceeded 10,000, introducing a security circle mechanism to enhance network security.
2020.12: Registered users surpassed 3.5 million, covering over 170 countries/regions.
2021.4: Launched Pi Browser (decentralized application browser).
2021.6: Released the KYC solution Pi KYC, utilizing machine learning + manual verification.
2021.11: Released white paper V2, announcing the mainnet launch in December.
2021.12.28: The $PI mainnet officially went live (still in a closed network state), with no open transfers allowed.
2022.3: The number of $PI users exceeded 33 million, but mainnet transfers were still limited to "verified members" for testing.
2022.9: Launched the Pi Ad Network (advertising system), promising to distribute 50% of profits to node operators.
2023.1: The South Korean Financial Commission placed Pi Network on its high-risk investment warning list.
2023.6: The core team announced the completion of 35% of the Mainnet Checklist for mainnet migration.
2023.10: Reports surfaced of offline merchants in Vietnam, Indonesia, and other locations "accepting Pi coin payments," later confirmed to be largely spontaneous community actions.
February 20, 2025, 8:00 AM: $PI will go live.