The Announcement That Lit the Fuse

On May 14 2025 Pi Network’s Core Team unveiled “Pi Network Ventures,” a $100 million fund to bankroll developers building decentralised applications (DApps) for its long-delayed main-net. The programme promises equity investments of up to $5 million per project, with smaller grants for hackathon-stage ideas.

2. Why Pioneers Feel Betrayed

Instead of celebration, veteran users—“Pioneers”—reacted with anger:

Community Grievance Status in May 2025 Why It Hurts Trust

Referral / ambassador rewards Many early supporters say they still hold < 1 000 PI despite years of daily mining. Belief that their labour bootstrapped the network while the Core Team now courts VCs.

KYC backlog Millions still unverified four years after rollout. Tokens remain locked; users can’t withdraw even if main-net opens.

100 DApps before main-net promise (2021) Fewer than 20 semi-active apps today. New fund seen as evidence the target was never close.

Ad-revenue transparency No public accounting of multi-year in-app ads. Users ask where the money went.

Hackathon prizes Several winners say payouts were delayed or smaller than advertised. Erodes developer confidence.

Crypto analyst Dr. Altcoin summed it up: “Pioneers aren’t customers; they’re the reason Pi exists. Ignoring them is existential.”

3. Price Action: Hope, Then Havoc

Pre-announcement: PI hovered around $0.98 on grey-market exchanges.

May 14 spike: News of the fund briefly pumped PI to $1.40.

Next 48 hours: Sell-off drove the price to $0.80, a 42 % draw-down that wiped out the gains and then some.

Analysts called it a “credibility discount”: the market didn’t doubt the Core Team could raise capital—only whether that capital would ever convert into an open, transferable token.

4. Anatomy of the Trust Gap

1. Asymmetric Risk: Pioneers supply attention, data and social-media marketing; the Core Team controls the chain, KYC and now a venture portfolio.

2. Moving Targets: Estimated launch dates—first 2021, then 2022, then 2024—have slipped repeatedly with scant explanation.

3. Opaque Governance: Decision-making and treasury reporting remain private, despite a user base larger than many public blockchains.

5. What the Core Team Must Do Next

Priority Concrete Step Why It Matters

Publish a token-unlock roadmap Date-stamped milestones for KYC completion, open main-net and bridge to exchanges. Gives users a measurable timeline.

Release audited financials Cover ad revenue, hackathon budgets, and the new venture fund’s cap-table. Closes the information gap fueling rumours.

Empower community governance Delegate “Pi Improvement Proposal” (PIP) voting with on-chain snapshots. Converts 70 million passive miners into stakeholders.

Ship flagship DApps Fund at least three end-to-end apps before year-end. Demonstrates that Pi isn’t merely speculative “attention mining.”

6. Outlook: Can Pi Re-ignite Its Vision?

Pi Network still boasts a vast, geographically diverse community and a brand recognised far beyond crypto circles. But the network effect depends on trust, not just numbers. Unless the Core Team meets its own promises—soon—the risk is not that Pioneers dump their unlisted coins, but that they simply stop caring.