Pi Mainnet Launch 2022
Pi Mainnet Launch
Pi Pi Mainnet Launchis
now live, initiating the Enclosed Network period of Pi
Mainnet Launchphase where the Pi Mainnet Launchblockchain is firewalled to
prohibit external connectivity but allows peer-to-peer and peer-to-app
transfers within the enclosed network. Pi Mainnet Launchcan be viewed in the Pi
Blockexplorer. Pi wallet can now show both Testnet and Pi Mainnet
Launchbalances, although everyone’s balance on Pi Mainnet Launchis 0 right now. As
more Pioneers pass KYC, they will be able to transfer their balance to the Pi
Mainnet. The KYC solution is coming soon to start verifying Pioneers’ identity
and onboarding identity validators.
Note that Pi Network is NOT
running an ICO or any type of crowdfunding sales of Pi. Thus, any party
impersonating Pi Network or its founders to conduct a sale or listing is
illegal and fake. Any sales of Pi towards Pioneers are unauthorized and have no
affiliation with the Pi Core Team. Pioneers should beware of any scams and not
participate. Pi can be mined freely by contributing to the ecosystem through
our mobile app. Further, any mined Pi can only be claimed from inside the
official Pi App through the Pi Mainnet Launchdashboard and then transferred
into your Pi wallet. Any website asking Pioneers to claim Pi by other means is
fake.
Below is the new draft of the Pi
supply and mining sections of our whitepaper. Mining will continue in
the Pi Mainnet Launchphase but with a mining rate dynamically adjusted within
limited supply. For more details, read the new whitepaper sections that review
how supply and mining worked before Pi Mainnet Launchand describe how and why
they will change at Pi Mainnet. We will also keep the previously released
Roadmap chapter at the bottom for reference. Your feedback is welcome before we
update the official whitepaper on our website when Open Network begins.
Today we are also releasing a preview
of the new mining interface for you to view the new simulated Pi
Mainnet Launchmining mechanism in a hypothetical setting and to help you
calibrate your lockup setting. The new mining mechanism will not yet go
into effect until more people pass KYC and migrate to the Pi Mainnet. Before
that, all Pioneers can continue mining on the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmechanism
just like before. Once the simulations and calibrations are done and enough
Pioneers have migrated into Pi Mainnet, the new Pi Mainnet Launchmining mechanism
will take effect and be announced on the home screen.
Token Model and Mining
A well thought-out, sound token design
is critical to the success of a cryptocurrency network. It has the potential to
create incentives to bootstrap network formation and growth, build a
utilities-driven ecosystem, and thereby support the cryptocurrency underpinning
such a system. What a network incentivizes says a lot about what a network
needs—for example, network growth or fundamentals-driven utility creation, a
mere store of value or a medium of exchange for the cryptonative ecosystem.
This chapter covers the supply of Pi and how Pioneers can mine Pi in different
phases of the network, and the underlying design rationale for different mining
mechanisms including to build and grow the network and to incentivize utilities
and demand. Note that Pi is a layer one cryptocurrency running on its own
blockchain, which “token” here refers to.
Pi Supply
Pi Network’s vision is to build the
world’s most inclusive peer-to-peer economy and online experience, fueled by
Pi, the world’s most widely used cryptocurrency. To deliver on this vision, it
is important to grow the network and make Pi widely accessible while
maintaining the security of the blockchain and the scarcity of Pi. While these
goals have always guided the token supply model and mining design, the key
distinction is: the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchphases focused on driving network
growth and widely distributing Pi and the Pi Mainnet Launchphase will focus on
rewarding more diverse forms of Pioneer contributions while cementing the
supply of Pi.
Pre-Pi Mainnet LaunchSupply
In the early stages, the focus of Pi
Network was on growing and securing the network. Bootstrapping to build a
critical mass of participants is paramount to any network and ecosystem. Driven
by the vision to make Pi the world’s most widely used cryptocurrency,
distributing Pi and making it accessible globally further added to the focus on
growth. Pi’s consensus algorithm relies on a global trust graph, which is
aggregated from the Security Circles of individual Pioneers. It was, therefore,
critical to incentivize Pioneers to form individual Security Circles. This
meant a supply of tokens available as mining rewards that was not explicitly
capped before Pi Mainnet.
At the same time, maintaining a certain
scarcity of Pi was important. As explained under the Mining section, the
network adopted a mining mechanism where the network mining rate halves every
time the network size increases by 10 times, resulting in a series of halving
events when it reaches various milestones of engaged Pioneers. The next halving
event based on this model would be when the network reaches 100 million engaged
Pioneers. Currently, we are over 30 million engaged Pioneers. The network also
retained an option to stop all mining altogether in the event that the network
reached a certain size, which was, however, yet to be determined. The option to
cap the supply of Pi was not exercised before Pi Mainnet launch , therefore leaving the
total supply undefined.
The pre-Pi Mainnet Launchsupply model
with a mining mechanism tailored to accessibility, growth and security has
bootstrapped a community of over 30 million engaged Pioneers with millions of
intertwined Security Circles. A simple, accessible means to mine Pi on a mobile
phone helped distribute the tokens widely throughout the world, including among
populations that have been left out of the crypto revolution because of a lack
of capital, knowledge or technology. In doing so, the network avoided the
extreme wealth concentration evident in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies,
preparing itself to become a true peer-to-peer decentralized ecosystem with a
large enough volume of participants and transactions for utility creation.
Pi Mainnet LaunchSupply
Supply fuels growth and incentivizes
necessary contributions to the network to achieve an organically viable
ecosystem. To that end, mining rewards will continue after Pi Mainnet Launchbut
will take diverse forms to incentivize different types of contributions, which
will be explained in the Mining section below. In regard to supply, the
undetermined supply due to the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmining mechanism that
optimizes for accessibility and growth of the network presents a few problems
for the Pi Mainnet Launchphase, including unpredictability in planning,
over-rewarding and under-rewarding different types of necessary contributions
in the new phase, and challenges to scarcity. To address these issues, the
network will shift from its pre-Pi Mainnet Launchsupply model that is
completely dependent on network behavior to the Pi Mainnet Launchsupply model
where there is a clear maximum supply.
The issue of unpredictability for
planning in the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchsupply model surfaced in Pi Network’s
first COiNVENTION in September-October 2020 where the community panel and
community submissions discussed whether mining should be halved or stopped at
the network size of 10 million at the time. The diverse voices of community
members presented the following dilemma for the network. If mining continued
based on the ongoing (pre-Pi Mainnet) mining mechanism, then it raised concerns
for the supply due to uncertainty, and thus, the scarcity of Pi. However, if
mining stopped, it would hurt the growth of the network and prevent new
Pioneers joining the network as miners, thereby undermining the accessibility
of Pi. Even though the network moved on from that decision and halved the
mining rate at its 10 Million size, this dilemma still remains and needs to be
resolved.
How the community can achieve continued
growth and accessibility while addressing concerns about supply is one of the main
factors considered in the design of the Pi Mainnet Launchtoken model. In
addition, the undefined and unpredictable total supply makes it hard to have
overall network token planning because the community as a collective and the
ecosystem itself have needs to use some Pi for purposes that benefit the
community and ecosystem as a whole, other than only mining rewards for
individuals, as evidenced by almost every other blockchain network. Clear
allocations for such collective community purposes need to be defined. Hence,
given the current network size of over 30 million Pioneers and the expected
volume of transactions and activities in the future, the Pi Mainnet Launchsupply
model has a clear maximum total supply of 100 billion Pi allowing
incentivizations of continued growth and new contributions while removing the
concerns about the unpredictability of the supply.
The supply distribution will honor the
original distribution principle in the March 14, 2019 white paper—the Pi
community has 80% and the Pi Core Team has 20% of the total circulating supply
of Pi, regardless of how much circulating supply there is in the Pi Network at
any given point in time. Thus, given a total max supply of 100 billion Pi, the
community will eventually receive 80 billion Pi and the Core Team will
eventually receive 20 billion Pi. The following pie chart depicts the overall
distribution. The Core Team’s allocation gets unlocked at the same pace as the
community progressively mines more and more Pi and may be subject to additional
lockup through a self-imposed mandate. This means that if the community has a
portion of its allocation in circulation (for example, 25%), only the
proportional amount in Core Team’s allocation (in this example, 25%) can get
unlocked at most.
This distribution above shows that Pi
Network does not have any allocation for ICO and is NOT running any type of
crowdfunding sales of Pi. Thus, any impersonation of Pi Network or its founders
to conduct a sale or listing is illegal, unauthorized and fake. These
impersonators have no affiliation with Pi Core Team. Pioneers should beware of
any scams and not participate. Pi can be mined freely by contributing to the
ecosystem. Further, all mined Pi can only be claimed from inside the Pi App
through the Pi Mainnet Launchdashboard and then transferred into your Pi
wallet. Any website asking Pioneers to claim Pi in other means is fake.
The 80% of the community supply is
further divided into: 65% allocated for all past and future Pioneer mining
rewards, at address GBQQRIQKS7XLMWTTRM2EPMTRLPUGQJDLEKCGNDIFGTBZG4GL5CHHJI25 on
the Pi Mainnet, 10% reserved for supporting community organization and
ecosystem building that will eventually be managed by a Pi Foundation, a
non-profit organization in the future, at address
GDPDSLFVGEPX6FJKGZXSTJCPTSKKAI4KBHBAQCCKQDXISW3S5SJ6MGMS, and 5% reserved for
the liquidity pool to provide liquidity for Pioneers and developers in the Pi
ecosystem at address GB7HLN74IIY6PENSHHBBJJXWV6IZQDELTBZNXXORDGTL75O4KC5CUXEV.
The following table depicts the community supply distribution:
Community Allocations |
Pi Community Distribution
(Out of Projected 80 Billion Pi Total) |
Pre-Pi Mainnet LaunchMining
Rewards |
20 billion Pi (approx.) |
Pi Mainnet LaunchMining
Rewards |
45 billion Pi (approx.) |
Liquidity Pool reserve |
5 billion Pi (approx.) |
Foundation reserve (Grants,
Community events, etc.) |
10 billion Pi (approx.) |
65 Billion Pi will be allocated for all
mining rewards—both past and future mining. For past mining rewards, the rough
sum of all Pi mined by all Pioneers so far (before Pi Mainnet) is about 30
Billion Pi. However, after discarding Pi mined by fake accounts and depending
on the speed and participation of KYC, the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmined Pi at the
beginning of the Open Network can be estimated to range from 10 to 20 Billion.
The remaining amount in the 65 billion Pi supply for mining rewards will be
distributed to Pioneers through the new Pi Mainnet Launchmining mechanism with
conceptual yearly supply limits.
Such yearly supply limits will be
determined based on a declining formula. The yearly limit may be computed on a
more granular basis such as by the day or by an even smaller time epoch
dynamically, depending on factors such as the lockup ratio and the remaining
supply of the network at the time. Such calculation of supply limits based on
granular time epochs helps achieve a better and more smooth allocation curve
through time. For the sake of simplicity here, let’s suppose that the time
epoch is yearly. The declining formula would mean that the yearly supply limit
for the first year of new Pi Mainnet Launchmining will be higher than for the
second year, the second year’s higher than the third year’s, and so on. The
yearly declining formula and these numbers will need to be finalized closer to
the launch of the Open Network period of Pi Mainnet Launchonce we will have
seen how many Pioneers have KYC’ed and how much of their mined Pi they have transferred
into Pi Mainnet.
At Pi Mainnet, Pioneers will be rewarded
for their continued contributions to the growth and security of the network. As
explained in the Mining section, Pioneer rewards will be further diversified
because the network needs more diverse and in-depth contributions related to
app usage, node operation, and Pi lockup. Pre-Pi Mainnet LaunchPioneers will
continue to contribute to Pi and mine from the Pi Mainnet Launchmining rewards,
along with any new members joining the network, to ensure growth and longevity
of the network.
10 Billion Pi will be reserved for
community organization and ecosystem building that will be, in the future,
managed by a non-profit foundation. Most decentralized networks or
cryptocurrencies, even though they are decentralized, still need an
organization to organize the community and set the future direction of the
ecosystem, e.g., Ethereum and Stellar. The future Pi foundation will (1)
organize and sponsor community events, such as developer conventions, global
online events and local community meetings, (2) organize volunteers and
committee members, and pay full-time employees who are dedicated to building
the community and ecosystem, (3) gather opinions and feedback from the
community, (4) organize future community votings, (5) build branding and
protect the reputation of the network, (6) represent the network to interact
with other business entities including governments, traditional banks, and
traditional enterprises, or (7) fulfill any number of responsibilities for the
betterness of the Pi community and ecosystem. Further, in order to build a
utilities-based Pi ecosystem, various community developer programs will be
designed, created and carried out by the foundation to support community
developers in the forms of grants, incubations, partnerships, etc.
5 billion Pi will be reserved for
liquidity pools to provide liquidity for any ecosystem participants, including
Pioneers and Pi apps developers. Liquidity is key for an ecosystem to be
viable, active, and healthy. If businesses or individuals want to participate
in ecosystem activities (e.g., by selling and buying goods and services in Pi),
they must have timely access to Pi. Without liquidity, the ecosystem will not
have a healthy flow of Pi, hence harming the creation of utilities.
As discussed in the Roadmap chapter, one
benefit of the Enclosed Network period of the Pi Mainnet Launchis to allow
calibrations on the token model, if any, based on the early Pi Mainnet Launchresults.
Therefore, the token model is subject to tweaking before the Open Network
period starts. Also, in the future, for the health of the network and
ecosystem, the network may face questions such as whether there needs to be any
inflation after the completion of the distribution of the 100 Billion Pi. The
inflation may be necessary to further incentivize contributions through more
mining rewards, make up for any loss of Pi from circulation due to accidents or
death, provide for more liquidity, mitigate hoarding that inhibits usage and
utility creation, etc. At that time, the foundation and its committees
specialized in these matters will organize and guide the community to reach a
conclusion on the matter in a decentralized way.
Mining Mechanism
Pi Network’s mining mechanism has been
allowing Pioneers to contribute to the growth, distribution and security of the
network and be rewarded in Pi meritocratically. The pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmining
mechanism has helped the network achieve an impressive growth of over 30
million engaged members, a widely distributed currency and Testnet, and a trust
graph of Security Circle aggregates that will feed the consensus algorithm of
the Pi blockchain.
Looking ahead into the Pi Mainnet Launchphase,
Pi Network needs further contributions, as well as more diverse types of
contributions from all its members, to become a true economy while continuing
its growth and inclusion. In the Pi Mainnet Launchphase, we want to further
achieve decentralization, utilities, stability and longevity, in
addition to growth, inclusion, and security. These
goals can only be achieved if all Pioneers in the network work together. Hence,
the new Pi mining mechanism is designed to achieve these goals by incentivizing
all Pioneers to contribute diversely to the network based on the same
meritocratic principle. Below, we first describe the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmining
formula, followed by the changes in the Pi Mainnet Launchformula.
Pre-Pi Mainnet LaunchFormula
The pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmining formula
demonstrates a meritocratic determination of a Pioneer’s hourly mining rate.
Actively mining Pioneers received at least a minimum rate and were further
rewarded for their contributions to security and growth of the network. The
following formula determined the rate at which Pioneers mined Pi per hour:
M = I(B, S) + E(I), where
- M is the total Pioneer mining
rate,
- I is the Individual Pioneer
base mining rate,
- B is the systemwide base mining
rate,
- S is the Security Circle
reward, which is a component of the individual Pioneer base mining rate
from valid Security Circle connections, and
- E is the Referral Team reward
from active Referral Team members.
The systemwide base mining rate B
started as 3.1415926 Pi/h and halved every time the network of Engaged Pioneers
increased in size by a factor of 10x, starting at 1000 Pioneers. As listed
below, there have been five halving events thus far:
Engaged Pioneers Milestone |
Value of B (in Pi/hr,
rounded to two decimals) |
Value of I, with full
Security Circle (in Pi/hr, rounded to two decimals*) |
< 1,000 |
3.14 |
6.28 |
1,000 |
1.57 |
3.14 |
10,000 |
0.78 |
1.57 |
100,000 |
0.39 |
0.78 |
1,000,000 |
0.19 |
0.39 |
10,000,000 |
0.10 |
0.19 |
Here,
- I(B,S) = B + S(B)
- S(B) = 0.2 • min(Sc,5) • B,
where
Sc is the count of valid Security Circle connections. - E(I) = Ec • I(B,S) • 0.25,
where
Ec is the count of active Referral Team members who mine concurrently.
The mining formula can also be written
as a multiple of B:
- M = I(B,S) + E(I)
- M = [B + S(B)] + [Ec • I(B,S) •
0.25], or
- M = [B + {0.2 • min(Sc,5) • B}]
+ [Ec • 0.25 • {B + {0.2 • min(Sc,5) • B}}], or
- M = B • [1 + {0.2 • min(Sc,5)}
+ {Ec • 0.25 • {1 + 0.2 • min(Sc,5)}}], or
- M = B • [(1 + Ec • 0.25) • {1 +
0.2 • min(Sc,5)}]
Pre-Pi Mainnet LaunchSystemwide Base Mining Rate
Every active Pioneer received at least
the system wide base mining rate (B). That is, if Sc = 0 and Ec = 0 in the
mining formula above, then M = B. In any case, the total Pioneer mining rate
was a multiple of the systemwide base mining rate. The value of B was
pre-determined before the Pi Mainnet, and as shown in the table above, it
changed only five times. The max supply was undetermined due to the dynamic
progress of the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmining mechanism, e.g. how large the
network is and how fast the network reaches the next halving event. It would
only be determined when B dropped to 0. However, as explained in the next
section, the value of B at Pi Mainnet Launchis calculated in real time,
dynamically adjusting based on the total annual Pi supply and the total mining
coefficient across all the Pioneers. The supply of Pi is finite at Pi Mainnet.
Security Circle Reward
Pi’s consensus algorithm relies on a
global trust graph, which is aggregated from the millions of intertwining
Security Circles of individual Pioneers. Thus, a Pioneer was rewarded with
additional Pi per hour for each new valid Security Circle connection, up to 5
such connections. The Security Circles are so central to the security of the Pi
blockchain that the Security Circle reward raised the total Pioneer mining rate
in two ways:
- by directly adding to the
individual Pioneer base mining rate (I), and
- by boosting the Referral Team
reward, if any.
In fact, a full Security Circle—that is,
having at least five valid connections—doubled both the individual Pioneer base
mining rate and the Referral Team reward.
Referral Team Reward
Pioneers can also invite others to join
Pi Network and form their Referral Team. The inviter and invitee share an equal
split of the Referral Team bonus rewards, that is a 25% boost to their
respective individual Pioneer base mining rates, whenever both are mining
concurrently. Pioneers mined more Pi per hour with each concurrently mining
Referral Team member. This Referral Team reward recognized the Pioneers’ contribution
to the growth of the network and the distribution of the Pi token.
Pi Mainnet LaunchMining Formula
The goals of the Pi Mainnet Launchphase
are to make further progress in decentralization and utilities,
ensure stability and longevity, and retain growth and security.
The new formula, as written below, incentivizes more diverse contributions of
Pioneers to support these Pi Mainnet Launchgoals while retaining the incentives
to secure and grow the network. As before, it is meritocratic and expressed as
the rate at which Pioneers mine Pi per hour.
M = I(B,L,S) + E(I) + N(I) + A(I) +
X(B), where
- M is
the total Pioneer mining rate,
- I is
the individual Pioneer base mining rate,
- B is
the systemwide base mining rate (adjusted based on the available pool of
Pi to distribute for a given time period),
- L is
the lockup reward, which is a new component of the individual Pioneer base
mining rate,
- S is
the the Security Circle reward, which is a component of the individual
Pioneer base mining rate from valid Security Circle connections the same
way as in the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmining formula,
- E is
the Referral Team reward from active Referral Team members the same way as
in the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmining formula,
- N is
the Node reward,
- A is
the Pi apps usage reward, and
- X are
new types of contributions necessary for the network ecosystem in the
future, which will be determined later, but will also be designed as a
multiple of B.
In short, S and E remain the same as in
the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmining formula, while new rewards such as L, N and A
have been added to the current formula. L is added as part of I; N and A are
added as additional rewards calculated based on I. In other words, the network
still rewards growth through E and security through
S, while incentivizing Pioneers’ contributions to running nodes for decentralization through
N, using apps for utilities creation through A, and locking up
for stability especially during the initial years through L.
Further, new types of rewards to Pioneers through X in the future may be added
for building a fully functioning ecosystem, such as rewards for Pioneer
developers creating successful Pi apps. B continues to exist over a long period
of time while having a yearly cap to ensure longevity of
network growth while maintaining scarcity. In fact, all the rewards can be
expressed in B as follows.
Here,
- I(B,L,S) = B + S(B) + L(B)
- S(B) = 0.2 • min(Sc,5) • B,
where
Sc is the count of valid Security Circle connections. - E(I) = Ec • 0.25 • I(B,L,S),
where
Ec is the count of active Referral Team members. - L(B) = Lt • Lp • log(N) • B,
where
Lt is a multiplier corresponding to the duration of a lockup,
Lp is the proportion of Pioneer’s mined Pi on the Pi Mainnet Launchthat is locked up with the maximum being 200%, and
N is the total number of Pioneer's mining sessions preceding the current mining session. - N(I) = node_factor •
tuning_factor • I, where
Node_factor = Percent_uptime_last_1_days • (Uptime_factor + Port_open_factor + CPU_factor), where
Uptime_factor = (Percent_uptime_last_90_days + 1.5*Percent_uptime_last_360_days(360-90) + 2* Percent_uptime_last_2_years + 3*Percent_uptime_last_10_years),
Port_open_factor = 1 + percent_ports_open_last_90_days + 1.5*percent_ports_open_last_360_days + 2* percent_ports_open_last_2_years + 3*percent_ports_open_last_10_years,
CPU_factor = (1 + avg_CPU_count_last_90_days + 1.5*avg_CPU_count_last_360_days + 2* avg_CPU_count_last_2_years + 3*avg_CPU_count_last_10_years)/4.
Percent_uptime_last_*_days/years is the percentage of the last * time period when the individual Node was live and accessible by the network.
percent_ports_open_last_*_days/years is the percentage of the last * time period when the ports of the individual Node were open for connectivity to the network.
avg_CPU_count_last_*_days/years is the average CPU that the individual Node provided to the network during the last * time period.
tuning_factor is a statistical factor that normalizes the node_factor to a number between 0 and 10. - A (I)* =
log [
Σ_across_apps {
log(time_spent_per_app_yesterday_in_seconds)
}
] •
log [ log(
0.8 • avg_daily_time_across_apps_last_30_days +
0.6 • avg_daily_time_across_apps_last_90_days +
0.4 • avg_daily_time_across_apps_last_180_days +
0.2 • avg_daily_time_across_apps_last_1_year +
0.1 • avg_daily_time_across_apps_last_2_year
) ] • I
time_spent_per_app_yesterday_in_seconds is, for each Pi app, the total amount of time in seconds that the Pioneer spends using the app on the prior day.
Σ_across_apps sums up the logarithmic value of the Pioneer’s time_spent_per_app_yesterday_in_seconds across all the Pi apps.
avg_daily_time_across_apps_last_* is the average daily time in seconds the Pioneer spends across all the Pi apps in the aggregate during the last * time period.
* Note that when any of the logarithmic functions returns an undefined value or a value below 0 (that is, when, the input to the logarithmic function is below 1), the formula resets the value of the logarithmic function to be 0 in order to avoid negative mining rewards or an error in the function.
- X(B) is to be determined in the
future based on the new types of contributions, but will be a multiple of
B and kept within the yearly supply limit along with other rewards.
As shown above, the expressions of S and
E remain the same as in the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmining formula, and will not
be explained further here. Next, we will focus on explaining the changes to B,
changes to I through L, and the additions of N and A.
Systemwide Base Mining Rate
Like in Pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmining, all
of the terms in the Pi Mainnet Launchmining formula above can be expressed in
Pi per hour and are designed to be a multiple of B. Hence, the equation can
also be re-written as below. Every Pioneer can mine at least the Systemwide
Base Mining Rate everyday, and will be able to mine at a higher rate if they
also have other types of contributions that are calculated as multiples of B.
M = B • (1 + S + L) • (1 + N + E + A +
X)
Unlike in the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmining,
B in Pi Mainnet Launchmining as in the formula above is no longer a constant
across all Pioneers at a given point in time, but is calculated in real time
and dynamically adjusted based on a yearly supply cap.
Given a yearly supply limit, it is
impossible to keep a constant B like in the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchperiod because
it’s unpredictable how much each Pioneer mines and how many Pioneers are
actively mining during a period of time. The pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmodel was
designed to incentivize growth during the beginning years to bootstrap the
network. As the network achieves a certain scale, it also needs to ensure the
overall health of the ecosystem. Therefore, an exponential issuance of the
tokens through exponential network growth and a constant mining rate does not
make sense any longer. The shift of B from being a constant to being
dynamically adjusted throughout the year results from the need to incentivize
Pioneers’ contributions meritocratically but also to keep the total rewards
within a limit.
Thus, to solve the yearly limit problem
while ensuring fairness for whoever mined Pi, B of a given day in the year is
calculated as below. Here a day is defined as the last 24 hours before the
moment a Pioneer starts a new mining session. Hence, different Pioneers will
have slightly different days relative to their time of mining, and thus,
potentially a slightly different B based on the calculation below. Each
Pioneer’s B of their day stays constant through their mining session, that is,
over the next 24 hours from the moment they start their mining session. B is
calculated as follows:
- Divide the remaining total Pi
supply of the year by the number of days left in the year to get
day_supply based on the remaining yearly supply,
- add the multiples of B from all
Pioneers actively mining within the last 24 hours, which represents a
diverse set of Pioneers’ contributions, in the Pi Mainnet Launchmining
formula above to get the sum_of_B_multiples of the whole network for that
24-hour window, and
- further divide day_supply by sum_of_B_multiples
and 24 hours to get B of that specific mining session.
Hence, for a given day of the year,
B = day_supply / (sum_of_B_multiples • 24h)
Under this framework, B on different
days of the year will be different depending on how many Pioneers mined in the
last 24 hours as well as what and how much contributions they made to receive
the extra multiples of B by running nodes, using utilities apps or lockups,
etc. This model also addresses any uncertainty with having X(B)—future types of
contribution rewards for Pioneers—in the formula. Regardless of how much X is
going to be, it will be kept within the same yearly supply limit without
increasing the total supply and will only affect the division of rewards among
different types of contributions. This dynamic mechanism allows Pioneers
themselves, in a decentralized way, to make sure that (1) the rewards do not
exceed the yearly supply limit, (2) the distribution of the yearly supply does
not end early in the year, and (3) the rewards are divided meritocratically.
For purposes of illustration, let’s
suppose there are only two Pioneers on a given day and B is the mining rate
(expressed in Pi/day for this illustration)—a constant during a specific
Pioneer mining session, but dynamically adjusted across different days:
Pioneer 1 has no app engagement (A=0),
is not operating a Node (N=0), has no security connections (S=0), and has no
active Referral Team members (E=0). They are in their 11th mining session
(N=10) and are locking up 100% of their mined Pi (Lp=1) for 3 years (Lt=2).
Pioneer 1’s mining rate on this day is:
- M1 = I(B,L,S) + 0 + 0 + 0, or
- M1 = B + {2 • 1 • log(10)} • B
+ 0, or
- M1 = 3B
Pioneer 2 has no app engagement (A=0),
is not operating a Node (N=0), has no lockup (L=0), and has no active Referral
Team members (E=0). They have a full Security Circle. Pioneer 2’s mining rate
on this day is:
- M2 = I(B,L,S) + 0 + 0 + 0, or
- M2 = B + 0 + {0.2 • min(Sc,5) •
B}, or
- M2 = B + {0.2 • 5 • B}, or
- M2 = 2B
Here, Total Pi to be mined in the whole
network on this day = M1 + M2 = 5B Let’s assume there are 500 Pi and 50 days
left in the year.
Therefore, Total Pi available to be mined for this day = 500 Pi / 50 days = 10
Pi/day
Solving B based on the two equations
above,
- 5B=10 Pi ⇒ B = 2 Pi/day (or 0.083 Pi/hour)
Accordingly, Pioneers 1 and 2 will have
their actual mining rates as follows:
- M1 = 3 • 2 Pi/day = 6 Pi/day
(or 0.25 Pi/hour)
- M2 = 2 • 2 Pi/day = 4 Pi/day
(or 0.17 Pi/hour)
Pioneer Base Mining rate
By comparison, the individual Pioneer
base mining rate in the pre-Pi Mainnet Launchmining formula includes only
system-wide base mining rate and Security Circle rewards. At Pi Mainnet, a new
component, lockup reward, is added to individual Pioneer base mining rate I.
Lockup rewards L, along with the system-wide base mining rate B and Security
Circle reward S, constitute the individual Pioneer base mining rate I. Since I
is used as an input to calculate all the other rewards, as a result, the
Security Circle and lockup rewards enhance the total Pioneer mining rate by:
(1) by directly adding to the individual Pioneer base mining rate and (2) by
boosting the any Referral Team reward E, nodes reward N, and app usage reward
A.
Lockup Reward
At Pi Mainnet, the lockup reward is
meant to support a healthy and smooth ecosystem and incentivize long-term
engagement with the network, while the network is bootstrapping the economy and
creating demands. It is an important decentralized macroeconomic mechanism to
moderate circulating supply in the market, especially in the early years of the
open market when utilities are being created. One important goal of the Pi
Network is to create a utility-based ecosystem of apps. Transactions for real
goods and services in the ecosystem, rather than just speculative trading, are
intended to determine the utility of Pi. As we launch the Enclosed Network
phase of the Pi Mainnet, one of the main areas of focus will be to support and
grow the Pi app developer community and nurture more Pi apps to grow. In the
meantime, Pioneers can choose to lock up their Pi to help create a stable
market environment for the ecosystem to mature and for more Pi apps to emerge
and provide compelling use cases for spending Pi – to ultimately create organic
demands through utilities.
The lockup reward formula is reprinted
here:
L(B) = Lt • Lp •
log(N) • B, where
Lt is the Lockup Time period multiplier of B.
- 0 → Lt = 0
- 2 weeks → Lt = 0.1
- 6 months → Lt = 0.5
- 1 year → Lt = 1
- 3 years → Lt = 2
Lp is the Lockup Percentage
multiplier of B, where
the Lockup Percentage is the lockup amount over the Pi Mainnet LaunchBalance
transferred from one’s previous mining rewards (Lb), and the Lockup
Percentage multiplier is as follows.
- 0% → Lp = 0
- 25% → Lp = 0.25
- 50% → Lp = 0.5
- 90% → Lp = 0.9
- 100% → Lp = 1.0
- 150% → Lp = 1.5
- 200% → Lp = 2
log(N) is the logarithmic value of the total
number of previous mining sessions (N).
Pioneers will have the opportunity to
voluntarily lock up their Pi to earn the right to mine at a higher rate. First
of all, the prerequisite of the lockup reward is that the Pioneer must be
actively mining. Without mining in the first place, there will be no lockup
rewards for any inactive mining sessions, even if Pi is locked up. As expressed
in the formula above, all that the lockup does is to provide multipliers to B,
so there will be no lockup rewards if B is 0 (which means the Pioneers is not
mining).
Secondly, the lockup reward is
positively associated with the contribution to the lockup, i.e. the duration of
the lockup time period (Lt) and the amount locked up. However the lockup amount
is accounted for by the percentage of a Pioneer’s total Pi mined (Lp). The
maximum Pi that a Pioneer can lock up is twice as much as their Pi Mainnet
LaunchBalance that got transferred from their prior mining in the mobile app
(Lb), i.e. 200% Lb. The reasons for having a 2X maximum lockup amount of one’s
transferred Pi Mainnet LaunchBalance (Lb) are to 1) prevent exploitation of the
lockup reward and 2) further encourage other contributions to the Pi ecosystem,
such as further boosting their mining, running nodes and using apps. This, in a
sense, favors Pioneers who mine and make other types of contributions to the
network.
Thirdly, Log(N) offers a higher lockup
incentive to Pioneers who have a long mining history and presumably a large
transferable balance to lock up. While the lockup reward formula generally
favors equality by accounting for not the absolute amount but the percentage of
their transferred balance (Lp) — which allows smaller accounts with a short
mining history to lock up small amounts and yet receive the same lockup reward
multiplier as big accounts — we need to add a Log(N) factor that accounts for
miners with a long mining history, to counterbalance the bias in favor of
Pioneers with small balances and provide enough incentive for long-history
Pioneers with bigger balances. However, the effect of mining history on lockup
rewards also needs to be capped. Thus, the formula applies a logarithm to the
number of previous mining sessions N. For example, if a Pioneer mined almost
everyday for the last 3 years, their total previous mining sessions (N) will be
about 1,000. In this scenario, Log(1,000) equals 3, adding another multiplier
to B in their lockup rewards. Keep in mind that to achieve meaningful lockup
rewards for long-mining-history Pioneers, the amount of Pi they have to lock up
is much more than smaller accounts.
Fourthly, one Pioneer can voluntarily
have multiple lockups at different times with different amounts and durations.
The calculation of the total lockup rewards for this Pioneer with i number of
different lockups is to find the total lockcup reward multiplier of B, as
expressed in the formula below. The formula below is the equivalent to the
lockup reward formula above, with the only difference being that it accounts
for multiple lockups of the same Pioneer to calculate their total lockup
rewards, e.g. different durations (Lti) and different amounts (Lci) of each lockup at different time:
The purpose of this formula is to
calculate the total lockup rewards based proportionally on each lockup’s amount
(Lc) over the total Pi Mainnet LaunchBalance from previous mining (Lb) as a
weight, multiplied by their respective lockup time period (Lt) and Log(n). So
that, even though there are multiple lockups of the same Pioneer, more lockups
with different settings will proportionally add to their total lockup rewards.
The values of Lt, Lc, and log(N) are calculated and multiplied for each lockup
i and then summed across various i’s, which is then divided by the value of Lb
at a given mining session, to arrive at the value of L(B) for that mining
session. This formula ensures that regardless of the Lb, as long as the Pioneer
maintains the same percentage of their lockup amount over their Lb, the total
lockup rewards multiplier will remain the same.
Lastly, when can a Pioneer lock up Pi?
Pioneers can decide their lockup duration and lockup percentage of their
transferable balance anytime they want as an overall account setting in the Pi
app. They can even preselect these settings before they’re KYC’ed or ready to
migrate to the Pi Mainnet. As they and their Referral Team/Security Circle pass
KYC, more of their Mobile Balance will become transferable. At the moment of
the migration of their Transferable Balance to Pi Mainnet, their preselected
setting of lockup duration and percentage will automatically apply to the
amount of balance transferred, resulting in two types of balances on the Pi
Mainnet: lockup balance and free balance, both of which will be recorded on the
Pi Mainnet Launchblockchain and reside in the Pioneer’s non-custodial Pi
wallet. Thus, lockups cannot be reversed once confirmed and must remain locked
up for the entirety of the chosen duration due to the nature of blockchain. Any
changes to this Pioneer's lockup setting will take effect in their next balance
transfer to the Pi Mainnet.
This account-wide lockup setting allows
Pioneers to lock up a maximum of 100% of their transferable balance from mobile
to Pi Mainnet. After Pi Mainnet Launchlaunches and Pioneers transfer their
balances, Pioneers can also lock up more Pi directly on the Pi Mainnet Launchthrough
a slightly different lockup interface later on. At that time, Pioneers can lock
up as much as 200% of their already-transferred Pi Mainnet Launchbalance
acquired from their previous mining. The additional lockup allowance for more
Pi than individually mined by the Pioneer can come from utility-based Pi apps
transactions, i.e., making Pi from selling goods and services.
App Usage Reward
An overarching goal of the Pi Network is
to build an inclusive peer-to-peer economy and online experience fueled by the
Pi cryptocurrency through our app ecosystem. Therefore, Pioneers will have
additional mining rewards for using Pi apps on the Pi apps platform through the
Pi Browser, including ecosystem apps and third-party apps in the Pi Directory.
The app usage reward for Pioneers helps the ecosystem in two ways.
First, it will give Pi app developers
market access and increased impressions of their apps. Pi app developers will
gain usage and product iteration opportunities from Pioneers, which has been
one of the biggest barriers to creating viable decentralized applications in
the blockchain industry. Decentralized application (dApp) developers do not yet
have a plentiful, stable, and utility-seeking consumer market environment to
test and hone their consumer products to create consumer utilities. Pi
Network’s apps platform and the app usage reward are meant to provide that
environment for dApp developers.
Second, the increased impressions and
usage will potentially lead to increased spending of Pi by Pioneers in the Pi
apps, thus increasing utility-based Pi demand in the market. Even though the
impressions are incentivized through the app usage reward, the spending of Pi
is not. This means that the Pi app usage reward to Pioneers helps the Pi app
developers to the extent that Pioneers are at their door. Now what determines
whether Pioneers will actually stay and spend Pi in their apps is how useful
and engaging their products are and what values the apps can provide for
Pioneers. This framework ensures that, for the purpose of Pi demand creation,
organic market forces are at work that allow apps to compete on the basis of
product quality and utility, ultimately allowing the best apps to emerge and
stay in the market and generate real utilities and even more Pi demands.
Through the above two mechanisms, the
app usage reward aims to achieve the gradual transition from extrinsic
incentives to intrinsic motivations among Pioneers visiting Pi apps, and thus
the transition from incentivized to organic usage of Pi apps in order to
ultimately bootstrap a utility-based ecosystem of apps using Pi.
The app usage reward formula is
reprinted here:
A (I)* =
log [ Σ_across_apps { log(time_spent_per_app_yesterday_in_seconds) } ] • log [
log( 0.8 • avg_daily_time_across_apps_last_30_days +
0.6 • avg_daily_time_across_apps_last_90_days +
0.4 • avg_daily_time_across_apps_last_180_days +
0.2 • avg_daily_time_across_apps_last_1_year +
0.1 • avg_daily_time_across_apps_last_2_year ) ] • I
time_spent_per_app_yesterday_in_seconds is, for each Pi app, the
total amount of time in seconds that the Pioneer spends using the app on the
prior day.
Σ_across_apps sums up the logarithmic value of the Pioneer’s
time_spent_per_app_yesterday_in_seconds across all the Pi apps.
avg_daily_time_across_apps_last_* is the average daily time in
seconds the Pioneer spends across all the Pi apps in the aggregate during the
last * time period.
* Note that when any of the logarithmic functions returns an undefined value or
a value below 0 (that is, when, the input to the logarithmic function is below
1), the formula resets the value of the logarithmic function to be 0 in order
to avoid negative mining rewards or an error in the function.
Generally, the app usage reward formula
takes into account two factors: time spent in apps and the number of apps used while
crediting the history of app usage in the long term and capping the rewards to
avoid exploitation. There are two main parts to the formula. The first part
aggregates a Pioneer’s time spent across each app in the last mining session
(i.e., in the previous day). The logarithmic function provides a positive
function with diminishing returns, meaning that an increase in time spent on
any one app will generally increase the rewards, but the positive effect of
time spent on rewards decreases as more time is spent. This setup encourages
Pioneers to generally spend more time on multiple diverse apps, helping the
network to bootstrap the creation of diverse utilities. At the same time, it
caps the rewards to prevent users from exploiting this reward by artificially
keeping the apps open all day, which would not meaningfully contribute to
utilities creation.
The second part of the app usage reward
formula looks at a Pioneer’s rolling average of daily time spent across all
apps in various time periods. The further back the time period goes, the less
it is weighted. In other words, a Pioneer mines more Pi the longer they have
been using the Pi apps, but their recent time spent on the apps counts more
toward mining than their previous time spent further back in the past. In
addition, as a matter of fact, the app usage history takes effect on the
current mining reward only if the Pioneer also used Pi apps during their last
mining session. This means that there is no passive reward for only the past
usage. Once again, the use of logarithmic functions helps moderate the mining
boost from app usage to avoid exploitation of the app usage reward. A
noteworthy implication here is that Pi chat moderators who have been helping to
guide Pioneers and monitor undesirable activities on Pi chats over the last two
years will mine the app usage reward at a higher rate when the Pi Mainnet
Launchlaunches.
Node Reward
Like on any blockchain, Nodes are at the
heart of the decentralization of Pi. In Pi, instead of relying on centralized
institutional nodes, we decided to open up the Nodes to any Pioneer with a
computer connected to the internet. Aided by the global trust graph aggregated
from individual Pioneer’s Security Circles from the mobile app, these Nodes
will run the consensus algorithm to validate transactions and process blocks.
Because the Nodes are critical to the decentralization, security, and longevity
of the Pi blockchain, Node-operating Pioneers will receive additional mining
rewards.
The node reward formula is reprinted
here:
- N(I) = node_factor •
tuning_factor • I, where
Node_factor = Percent_uptime_last_1_days • (Uptime_factor + Port_open_factor + CPU_factor), where
Uptime_factor = (Percent_uptime_last_90_days + 1.5*Percent_uptime_last_360_days(360-90) + 2* Percent_uptime_last_2_years + 3*Percent_uptime_last_10_years),
Port_open_factor = 1 + percent_ports_open_last_90_days + 1.5*percent_ports_open_last_360_days + 2* percent_ports_open_last_2_years + 3*percent_ports_open_last_10_years,
CPU_factor = (1 + avg_CPU_count_last_90_days + 1.5*avg_CPU_count_last_360_days + 2* avg_CPU_count_last_2_years + 3*avg_CPU_count_last_10_years)/4.
Percent_uptime_last_*_days/years is the percentage of the last * time period when the individual Node was live and accessible by the network.
percent_ports_open_last_*_days/years is the percentage of the last * time period when the ports of the individual Node were open for connectivity to the network.
avg_CPU_count_last_*_days/years is the average CPU that the individual Node provided to the network during the last * time period. tuning_factor is a statistical factor that normalizes the node_factor to a number between 0 and 10.
The node reward depends on the uptime
factor, port open factor, CPU factor, and the tuning factor. The uptime factor
of a Node for a given period of time is the proportion of time the Node is
active during that period. For example, a 25% uptime factor yesterday means
that the Node was live and accessible for a total of 6 out of 24 hours
yesterday. The Pi Node software tracks the time a particular Node is active.
Starting in the Open Network phase, only a Node running functionally at a given
point in time is considered active. This is a proxy for the reliability of the
Node. However, for the historical data relevant to the mining reward, a Node is
considered active if the Node app is open and connected to the internet even if
it is not running functionally. This exemption for the past performance
recognizes that the Community Node operators running the Testnet provided the
network with important data and infrastructure to enable multiple iterations of
the Node software and Testnet, and that it was not always the fault of the Node
operator that their Nodes were inoperative.
The port open factor of a Node for a
given period of time is the proportion of time the Node’s specific ports are
detected to be accessible from the Internet during that period. Pi Nodes use
ports 31400 through 31409, enabling other nodes to reach them through these
ports and the network IP address. An open-port Node is able to respond to
communications initiated by other Nodes, while closed-port Nodes are not able
to receive such communications from other Nodes and can only initiate
communications. Pi’s consensus protocol relies on Nodes sending a series of
messages among each other. Therefore, open-port Nodes are critical to the
operation of the Pi blockchain, and thus, worthy of a mining reward boost. In
fact, the network aims to have at least 1/8th of the Nodes with open ports, and
having an open port is one of the prerequisites for being a Super Node.
The CPU factor of a Node for a given
period of time is the average number of CPU cores/threads available on the
computer during that period. A higher CPU factor prepares the blockchain for
future scalability, for example, the ability to process more transactions per
block or more transactions per second. The Pi blockchain is not an energy and
resource-intensive blockchain. The network is initially set to operate at one
new block of up to 1,000 transactions (T) about every 5 seconds. Thus the
network is effectively capable of processing up to about 200 transactions per
second (TPS) or ~17M T/day. Should the blockchain get congested in the future,
this limit can be increased to 2,000 TPS (~170M T/day) by increasing the block size
from 1000 to 10,000 transactions per block. The higher the CPU contributed by
Pi Nodes, the more room the network will have to grow and scale further in the
future. Furthermore, higher collective CPU from Pi Nodes will allow novel
peer-to-peer node-based applications to be built on Pi Network, such as
decentralized CPU sharing applications that let computing power-intensive
applications run or provide distributed cloud services. Such services will be
further rewarding contributing nodes with additional Pi paid by the clients of
those services.
Finally, a tuning factor normalizes the
Node reward to a number between 0 and 10. This is meant to make Node rewards
comparable to other types of mining rewards that recognize other contributions
to Pi Network. During the Enclosed Pi Mainnet Launchphase (as explained in the
Roadmap section), the Node reward formula is expected to iterate. For example,
the use of logarithmic or root functions may potentially obviate the need for a
tuning factor.
Having reliable Nodes running predictably
over a long stretch of time is critical to the health of the blockchain. It is
not a one and done contribution. Therefore, the uptime factor, port open
factor, and the CPU factor are all calculated over varying time periods, where
the value from more recent time periods are more heavily weighted than the time
periods of equal lengths from a more distant past. Note, however, that the Node
reward is a multiple of the uptime factor of the previous mining session.
Hence, a Pioneer will not receive any Node reward in a given mining session if
their Node was inactive for the entirety of the immediately preceding calendar
day. Similar to the app usage reward, there is no passive reward for only the
past contribution as a Node operator. This also means that a low uptime factor
in the previous calendar day (even if the Node is active for a part of the day)
will substantially reduce the Node reward in a given day despite high past Node
contributions.
The Effect of KYC on Pi Mainnet Launchrewards
There will be a rolling grace period of
six calendar months for a Pioneer to complete KYC. Thereafter, the Pioneer
loses all the Pi mined outside of the rolling 6-month window and is unable to
transfer the lost Pi to the Pi Mainnet. The retention of the mined Pi in the
6-month window continues indefinitely until they pass KYC or the KYC policy
changes. Note that this KYC-window mining framework will only begin when the
KYC solution is generally available to all eligible Pioneers in the future, and
will be announced to the community beforehand. The six-month restriction will
not be immediately in place yet when we launch the Pi Mainnet.
Because of the importance of true
humanness in our social network-based mining, only the Pioneers who pass KYC
will be able to transfer their Phone balance to the blockchain. Our objective
is to have as many true Pioneers as possible pass KYC. As explained further
below, the rolling six-month window serves the following important purposes:
- strike a balance between giving
Pioneers adequate time to pass KYC and creating enough urgency to pass
KYC,
- prevent unverified Pi beyond
the rolling six-month KYC grace period from migrating to the Pi Mainnet,
instead freeing it up for mining by other KYC’ed Pioneers within the
allocated Pi overall supply limit for Pioneer mining, and
- limit KYC spam and abuse (see
30-day delay in KYCing new members below)
If Pioneers do not pass KYC in time, it
delays the Pi Mainnet Launchtransfer of their balances and the balances of
other Pioneers who have them on their Security Circles and Referral Teams.
Without balances on the Pi Mainnet, Pioneers are not able to use payments in Pi
apps, thereby undermining the growth of our utility-based ecosystem. A
six-month window creates a sense of urgency for Pioneers while giving them
adequate time to retrieve their mined Pi. The KYC verification process will
generally take into account Pioneers’ likelihood of being real human beings
based on Pi’s machine-automated prediction mechanisms run over the last three
years. Newly created accounts will not be able to immediately apply for KYC
verification, until after 30 days. This helps the network limit the ability of
bots and fake accounts to spam and abuse our KYC process and prioritize KYC
validation resources for real human Pioneers.
Finally, the lost Pi of the Pioneers who
delay KYC verification beyond six months will not be transferred to the Pi
Mainnet Launchand will not be accounted for in the calculation of the
systemwide base mining rate (B) beyond the rolling six-month KYC grace period.
Pioneers will, therefore, need to claim their Pi in time, or their lost Pi will
be reallocated to B for mining in the same year by other verified Pioneers who
can make full contributions to the network.
Roadmap
Pi Network is unique in our
technological and ecosystem design as well as the significance of our community
input in development. This uniqueness is best served by a thoughtful and
iterative approach that allows for community feedback, testing of products,
features, and user experience, and phases defined by milestones. There are
three main phases to our development: (1) Beta, (2) Testnet, and (3) Pi Mainnet.
Phase 1: Beta
In December 2018, we publicly launched
our mobile app on the iOS App store as an alpha prototype that onboarded the
initial Pioneers. On Pi Day, March 14, 2019, the original Pi whitepaper was
published, marking the official launch of the Pi Network. At this stage, our
app allowed Pioneers to mine Pi by contributing to the growth and security of
the future Pi blockchain. As the eventual goal was to launch the Pi Mainnet Launchand
build an ecosystem around the Pi platform, the Pi app running on the
centralized Pi server enabled mobile phone users (Pioneers) to contribute their
security circles that, in aggregate, built the trust graph required by the
consensus algorithm of the Pi Blockchain, and in return, the Pioneers received
mining rewards. Furthermore, the centralized phase allowed the network to grow,
the community to form, and the Pi token to be accessible and widely
distributed. This phase also allowed for the iteration of many technical
features and Pioneer experience by leveraging community input throughout the
development process.
The following major accomplishments were
made during the Beta phase:
- The Pi Network mobile app was
listed and accessible through the iOS App Store and Google Playstore.
- Pi Network grew from 0 to over
3.5 million engaged Pioneers.
- The Pi Network community
actively engaged with the project through the app home screen interactions
and chat app.
- Pi Network reached 233
countries and regions around the world.
Phase 2: Testnet
This phase started on March 14, 2020,
marking another critical preparation to the transition to a decentralized
blockchain—a live Testnet with distributed Nodes from all over the world. Pi
Network’s Node software enabled individual computers to support running the Pi
Testnet using Test-Pi coin. Test-Pi was available only for the purpose of
testing and has no relation to Pioneers’ account balances on the Pi app. The Pi
Testnet has reached over 10,000 fully functional community Nodes and over
100,000 daily active Nodes on the waiting list, and as explained in a later
section, will continue to exist for testing purposes in the Pi Mainnet Launchphase.
Pi Testnet allows for the testing of
connectivity, performance, security, and scalability of the blockchain, and
allows Pi apps developers to develop the Pi apps before they can deploy their
app on the Pi Mainnet. During the Testnet phase, 3 major strategies were
adopted: (1) decentralization through Testnet Nodes, (2) growth through the
main Pi app for mobile mining, and (3) utility creation through the Pi apps
platform on the Pi Browser. The Testnet ran in parallel with the Pi mobile
mining app from Phase 1 and enabled decentralized community Nodes to get online
and ready for the Pi Mainnet. Specifically, the Testnet Nodes helped with the
assessment of the blockchain’s performance, security, and scalability. It also
helped Pi App developers test their apps against the Pi Blockchain. At the same
time, the Pi mobile mining app continued to onboard millions of Pioneers,
building the community and contributing to the security of the blockchain. The
Pi Browser, along with the Pi SDK, enabled the community to create utilities
and develop the Pi ecosystem.
The following major accomplishments were
made during the Testnet phase:
- Many versions of the Node
software were released.
- The Pi Platform was released
along with key ingredients of our ecosystem infrastructure: Wallet,
Browser, Brainstorm and developer tools.
- Pilot version of the KYC app
was introduced on the Pi Browser.
- The project ran its first ever
worldwide online Hackathon with thousands of participants from within the
Pioneer Community.
- Pi Network grew to over 30
million engaged Pioneers, and from 0 to over 10,000 fully functional
community Nodes and over 100,000 daily active Nodes on the waiting list.
- Pi Network reached almost all
countries and regions in the world.
Phase 3: Pi Mainnet
In December 2021, the Pi Mainnet Launchof
the Pi blockchain will go live. The migration of Pioneer balances from their
phone account to the Pi Mainnet Launchstarts during this period. KYC
authentication of a Pioneer precedes their balance migration to the Pi Mainnet.
In order to allow for sufficient time for millions of Pioneers to successfully
complete their KYC verification, create utilities in the Pi ecosystem, and
continue to iterate on our technology and ecosystem design, the Pi Mainnet
Launchwill have two periods:
- at first, firewalled Pi Mainnet
Launch(i.e., the Enclosed Network),
- and then, open Pi Mainnet
Launch(i.e., the Open Network).
The Enclosed Network Period
This period will begin in December 2021.
The Enclosed Network period means that the Pi Mainnet Launchis live but with a
firewall that prevents any unwanted external connectivity. Pioneers will be
able to take time to KYC and migrate their Pi to the live Pi Mainnet Launchblockchain.
Any balance migrated to the Pi Mainnet Launchcan be used, by the choice of the
Pioneer, to purchase goods and services in Pi apps, transfer to other Pioneers,
or get locked up for a duration of time for a higher mining rate. KYC’ed
Pioneers will be able to use their Pi on the Pi Mainnet Launchfreely in an
enclosed environment within Pi Network. However, this period will not allow
connectivity between the Pi blockchain and other blockchains.
Advantages of the Two-Period Approach to Pi Mainnet
There are multiple advantages to having
an intermediate enclosed period to ramp up to the fully open Pi
Mainnet. This approach allows time for:
- millions of Pioneers worldwide
to pass KYC,
- building and deploying more Pi
Apps and allowing more utilities to be created and used,
- transitioning Pi Apps deployed
on the Testnet to the Pi Mainnet, and
- iterating on any modifications
and adjustments to the Pi Mainnet Launchand the ecosystem before the Open
Network.
The Enclosed Network period allows time
for millions of Pioneers to KYC and migrate their Pi to the Pi Mainnet. Only a
small fraction of Pioneers have been able to complete their KYC around the
launch of the Pi Mainnet. Over the coming months, we will continue to roll out
the KYC solution to more Pioneers and help them complete their KYC. If we moved
directly from Testnet to Open Network, this would mean that the Pioneers who
were able to KYC before others would have Pi available for use outside of the
Pi platform while the Pioneers still waiting to complete their KYC would not
yet have this privilege. The speed at which Pioneers all over the world are
able to complete their KYC will depend on the speed at which each local
community provides the KYC validator crowd work force as well as the speed at which
individual Pioneers participate in the KYC.
Having the Enclosed Network period gives
time for millions of Pioneers to complete their KYC and transfer their Pi to
the Pi Mainnet. This way, all the Pioneers who are willing and able to complete
their KYC in a reasonable period of time get to use their Pi outside of the Pi
platform at once. Given that external connectivity between the Pi Blockchain
and other blockchains or systems is not allowed during the Enclosed Network
period, this further helps Pioneers focus on transitioning into Pi Mainnet
Launchwithout any influences external to the Pi Blockchain.
This period will also help the community
focus on creating utilities and bootstrapping the ecosystem without any
external distractions. Consistent with the vision of the Pi network to enable a
utility-based ecosystem, this allows apps to deploy on Pi Mainnet Launchand
create utilities for Pioneers. Pi apps will be able to switch from Testnet to Pi
Mainnet—to production mode for real Pi transactions. At this time, KYC’ed
Pioneers will be able to spend their Pi on Pi apps, boosting utilities creation
and bootstrapping the Pi ecosystem before the Open Network. This gradual and
deliberate ramp to Open Network will help the apps, as well as the Pi Network,
to uncover and resolve any glitches in the market and the technology. Thus, the
Enclosed Network period is in line with Pi’s vision of a utility-based
ecosystem and its iterative philosophy.
Moreover, the Enclosed Network will
allow the Pi Mainnet Launchto run with production data and real Pi, which
differs from Testnet. Data gathered during the Enclosed Network will help
calibrate and tweak any configurations and formulae, if necessary, to ensure a
stable and successful Open Network.
KYC Verification and Pi Mainnet LaunchBalance Transfer
“Know Your Customer/Client” (KYC) is a
process that verifies identification to distinguish genuine accounts from fake
ones. The vision of Pi Network is to build an inclusive and the most widely
distributed token and ecosystem for all Pioneers. The mining mechanism of Pi
Network is social network-based, and the mining rate has halved 5 times so far
as the social network size grew to over 1K, 10K, 100K, 1M, and 10M engaged
members. Therefore, Pi has a strict policy of one account per person. This
requires a high degree of accuracy to establish that members in the network are
genuine human beings, preventing individuals from being able to unfairly hoard
Pi by creating fake accounts. Pioneers’ KYC results will depend on not only
identity verification, but also their name matching with the Pi account and
screening against government sanction list. KYC, thus, helps ensure the true
humanness of the network and compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering (AML)
and anti-terrorism regulations.
As communicated at the founding of the
network, to ensure true humanness, fake Pi accounts and scripted mining are
strictly prohibited. These accounts will be disabled, and will not be able to
migrate to Pi Mainnet. Over the past three years, multiple technical mechanisms
have been implemented to identify bots and fake accounts. For the accounts
identified as highly likely to be fake by Pi’s algorithm, the weight is on
these accounts to prove otherwise. These identified fake accounts will either
be disabled or go through a much more rigorous review and appeal process. The
allocation of KYC slots will be prioritized for accounts with a high likelihood
of being true human holders.
Only the accounts with verified
identities will be allowed to transition to Pi Mainnet, and only the Pi
balances attributable to identity-verified accounts will be allowed to transfer
to the Pi Mainnet Launchbalance. When a Pioneer and their referral team and
security circle members pass the KYC determines if and when, and to what
extent, a Pioneer can transfer their balances. Below is a hypothetical example
to illustrate how the KYC verification of Pioneers affects their balances in
migration to the Pi Mainnet.
For simplicity, we define different
concepts of Pi balances as follows:
- Mobile Balance: The Pi balance currently shown in a Pioneer’s account
in the Pi mobile app
- Transferable Balance: The balance that has been allowed to be transferred
to the Pi Mainnet Launchbecause the Pioneer and their specific associated
individuals in the referral teams and security circles have passed KYC
- Pi Mainnet Launchbalance: The balance that has been migrated and transferred by
the Pioneer to the Pi Mainnet
Suppose individual A is
the owner of a Pi account who wants to transfer their Mobile Balance. Pioneer A
will only be allowed to transfer any of the Mobile Balance to the Pi Mainnet
Launchwhen their identity is verified, i.e., when they pass the KYC. Let’s say
this individual has Individuals B, C, D, and E on their
referral team and Individuals D, E, F, and G in their
security circle. So far, only individuals A, B, D, and F have
completed their KYC verification.
In this example setup:
- A is
a mining Pioneer who has passed KYC.
- B,
C, D, E are in the Referral Team of A.
- D,
E, F, G are in the Security Circle of A.
- A, B, D, and F have passed KYC.
Here, A’s Transferable Balance is the
sum of the following three components:
- Pioneer Rewards: Pi mined based on A’s Pioneer status across all
mining sessions
- Contributor Rewards: D and F’s contribution to A's mining rate as
Contributors in all mining sessions
- Ambassador Rewards: Mining bonuses from all mining sessions when B and D
as referral team members mined during the same session as A mined
As more of Pioneer
A’s referral team and security circle members (i.e., C, E, and G) pass KYC,
more portions of A’s Mobile Balance will become Transferable Balance—ready for
A to migrate to the Pi Mainnet, and ultimately become A’s Pi Mainnet LaunchBalance.
During the Enclosed Pi Mainnet Launchperiod,
any Mobile Balance that has not become Transferable Balance will remain in the
Mobile mining app until the associated Pioneers in the referral team and
security circles pass KYC and the corresponding amount becomes transferable to Pi
Mainnet. In the case of the above example of Pioneer A, the balance
contribution by C, E, and G will remain as Mobile Balance for A in the mining
app waiting for them to pass KYC in order for such balance to become
transferable. If such associated accounts never pass KYC, the balance
attributed to these non-KYC’ed accounts will expire at a certain date which
will have allowed enough time for the whole network to KYC. The unclaimed
balances due to lack of KYC will be discarded by not being transferred to the Pi
Mainnet Launchat all, instead freeing it up for mining by other KYC’ed Pioneers
within the allocated Pi overall supply limit for Pioneer mining as explained in
the Pi Supply section.
Restrictions in the Enclosed Network
While transactions between Pi apps and
Pioneers and Pioneer-to-Pioneer transactions are allowed within Pi Network, the
Enclosed Network will have in place the restrictions as listed below. These restrictions
at this stage help enforce the enclosed nature of the network:
- There will be no connectivity
between Pi and other blockchains or crypto exchanges.
- Pi Mainnet Launchcan only be
accessed through the Pi Wallet and Pi apps on the Pi Browser.
- The Pi Mainnet Launchblockchain
will be accessible to any computer on the internet but only through a
firewall to enforce the above rules.
- There will only be Core Team
Nodes on the Pi Mainnet Launchto ensure that the firewall is in place at
all times.
The Enclosed Network will support the
economic activities and growth of the Pi ecosystem. Thus, Pioneer-to-Pioneer
transactions are possible through the Pi Wallet as KYC’ed Pioneers will be able
to use the Pi Wallet to transact in Pi. Pioneers can also spend Pi in Pi apps
on the Pi Browser, which can access the Pi Mainnet Launchthrough the Pi Apps
SDK and the Pi Blockchain API. During the Enclosed Network period, an app on
the Pi Browser can only use the Pi blockchain APIs whitelisted by the firewall
to interact with the Pi Mainnet.
The following uses of
Pioneer-to-Pioneer, Pioneer-to-App, and App-to-Pioneer transactions will be
allowed:
- Exchange of Pi for goods and
services through Pi Apps
- Transfer of Pi between Pioneers
for goods and services
The following uses will be prohibited:
- Exchange of Pi for fiat
currency
- Exchange of Pi for other
cryptocurrencies
- Transfer for Pi for a future
promise of fiat or other cryptocurrencies
We will enforce the above restrictions
by adding a firewall to the Pi Mainnet Launchand by exclusively running the Pi
Mainnet LaunchNodes for this interim period. Community Nodes will
continue to run on the Testnet in the Enclosed Network period. We will continue
to implement interface and other changes to the Nodes in preparation for the
Open Network period where the Community Nodes will be able to run on the Pi
Mainnet. The restrictions of the Network to keep it enclosed will be relaxed as
it reaches the next period—Open Network.
The Open Network Period
Depending on the maturity of the
Enclosed Network economy and the progress of the KYC, this period may begin on
Pi Day (March 14, 2022), Pi2 Day (June 28, 2022), or later. The Open Network
period means that the firewall in the Enclosed Network period will be removed,
allowing any external connectivity, e.g., to other networks, wallets, and
anyone who wants to connect to Pi Pi Mainnet. API calls will not be firewalled,
and Pioneers will be able to run their own Pi Nodes and API services. Pioneers
will have connectivity with other blockchains. Community Nodes can also run the
Pi Mainnet.
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