Pi Network price crash continues as crypto sentiment wanes

The Pi Network IOU token continued its strong downtrend as sentiment in the crypto industry waned.

Pi Coin (PI) was trading at $33.90 on Monday, Sep. 2, down by over 5% in the last 30 days and by over 72% from its highest level this year. Pi’s IoU was launched in 2022 and has no affiliation with the main project. It is listed in just a handful of exchanges and trades with low volume, meaning that its price is not a good predictor of how the main token will trade.

Pi Network IOU has retreated

This price action has mirrored that of other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin (BTC) has dropped by over 20% from the year-to-date high, while Ethereum (ETH) is down by over 38% in the same period.

The crypto fear and greed index has dropped from the extreme greed zone of 90 in March to the neutral point of 42.5. In most cases, cryptocurrencies do well when there is a sense of greed in the market.

The volume of cryptocurrencies traded in centralized and decentralized exchanges also dropped in August.

Pi Network’s IOU has also retreated because of the continued delay of the mainnet launch. In a statement in December last year, the developers noted that the network would move from an enclosed mainnet later this year.

For this to happen, however, the network will need to meet three key milestones, which they are working on. 

First, the team behind Pi will need to complete Know Your Customer verification for most pioneers. This verification is ongoing, and over 13 million pioneers have moved to the mainnet. In a recent statement, the developers noted that they had upgraded their Pi Wallet to make it easier for users to upgrade.

Second, the Pi Network mainnet launch will happen when the platform has at least 100 decentralized applications (dApps) in the ecosystem. Data shows that the network has fewer than 50 dApps, meaning that there is more work to be done.

Finally, the market will need to be conducive before the mainnet is launched. If the ongoing consolidation continues, there is a high chance that Pi Network’s mainnet will not happen this year. 

Tap-to-earn tokens have crashed

Meanwhile, available data shows that despite its popularity, the Pi Network token may not perform well when it starts trading. A good example of this is Hamster Kombat, the popular tap-to-earn token, whose price dropped to a record low in the pre-market futures market. It has fallen by over 80% from its all-time high ahead of the official airdrop.

Other tap-to-earn tokens are not doing well. Notcoin (NOT) token has fallen by over 71% from its all-time high while Pixelverse has crashed to a record low.

Pi Network has some similarities with Telegram’s tap-to-earn platforms, in that users earn tokens by just clicking a button on the app. The main difference is that Pi has a dedicated standalone application, and the developers are focused on building an ecosystem before launching the mainnet.