Pi Network price initially jumped after the mainnet launch on Thursday, and then erased all those gains. Pi, the popular tap-to-earn token, was trading at $0.7290 on Friday morning, much lower than Thursday’s high of $2. So, what next for the Pi coin price in the coming years?
Pi Network mainnet launch
Pi, one of the most popular players in the crypto industry, launched its mainnet on Thursday.
The mainnet launch happened after six years when the network remained under development and the pioneers mined millions of tokens. It remained in an enclosed mainnet for over three years.
Therefore, the Pi Network mainnet launch was notable because it allowed these pioneers to cash out and true believers to hold the token.
The mainnet launch was well-received as many mainstream exchanges decided to list it on the first day. According to CoinMarketCap, most of the Pi Network volume happened on Gate.io, followed by Bitget and OKX.
Popular American exchanges like Coinbase, Gemini, and Kraken are yet to list it. Binance, on the other hand, is set to list the Pi coin next week after users overwhelmingly voted to allow it to be listed in the network.
Pi Network has become one of the biggest cryptocurrencies in the industry. It has a market cap of over $4.2 billion and a fully diluted valuation of $66 billion. That FDV would make it the sixth-biggest player in the sector.
Why Pi coin price crashed
There are three main reasons why the Pi coin price crashed after the mainnet launch on Thursday.
First, Pi coin plunged because many pioneers decided to sell their holdings as soon as it was humanly possible. Historically, many holders of similar tokens tend to sell when the airdrop happens. Most recently, it has happened among popular tap-to-earn tokens like Hamster Kombat, Tapswap, and Catizen.
The urgency to sell was more intense since many Pi Network pioneers have been disappointed with the project, especially because of its mainnet launch delays. This also explains why only about 10.1 million pioneers migrated their tokens to the mainnet, a big drop from the 50 million pioneers it had at its top.
Second, the Pi coin price crashed because many pioneers have seen other popular new airdrops crash. All popular “to earn” tokens have crashed over the years. This includes play-to-earn tokens like Axie Infinity (AXS), Decentraland (MANA), and Gala Games (GALA).
It also includes other tap-to-earn tokens like Hamster Kombat, Tapswap, Catizen, DOGS, and Notcoin. Move-to-earn tokens like Sweat Economy and StepN have also plunged.
Third, the Pi Network price plunged because of the ongoing crypto bear market. The crypto fear and greed index has moved to the fear zone as most cryptocurrency prices have crashed. Therefore, there are usually high odds that a cryptocurrency will crash if it is launched during a crypto bear market.
Pi Network price forecast 2025 to 2026
So, what next for the Pi Network price in 2025 and 2030? There are two prominent schools of thought about this. One camp argues that Pi Network is the next Bitcoin because of its popularity. It predicts that the Pi price will eventually surge from the current $0.6693 to over $100,000 over time.
The other camp argues that the Pi Network price will crash over time now that the incentive to mine it has ended.
I believe that the Pi Network outlook for between 2025 and 2030 is bearish because of the past performance of other “to earn” tokens. Pi team argues that the ecosystem growth will help to offset this. However, the risk is tha this much-touted ecosystem growth will not happen after all. This is in line with our last Pi forecast.
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