Available for Android and iOS - Sign up with our referral code ( ministerkataoka) to get a starting Pi token bonus and mining boost
First introduced in 2019, the Pi Network celebrated a major milestone with listing of its cryptocurrency on exchanges for the first time in early 2025. The most basic "work" in this case consists of tapping a button once per day, but is it even worth that much effort?
NATURE OF WORK AND PAYMENT
Pi isn't so much "microwork" as it is "crypto mining." However, it's unique in a couple of ways. Crypto mining usually means setting up some beefy rig to mine something very valuable like Bitcoin. Pi was designed from the start to be simple and work on common devices like phones without putting a strain on them, allowing even very basic hardware to participate. It's also gradually building a whole ecosystem that offers other earning opportunities, such as apps that can be built and run on its chain.
The other big difference from other types of crypto mining: you don't actually have to use your compute power or utilities! Think of it more like one of those old Bitcoin faucets instead of a mining setup, except that's how the creators set the whole structure up from the beginning. Once every 24 hours, you tap the "mine" button. You're now gradually mining at your preset rate (determined by a number of factors, more on that later) for that whole period regardless of what you do: minimize the app, close it completely, turn the device off if you want. All you have to do is come back after 24 hours and hit the "mine" button again to start another cycle. The whole existing supply of Pi is pre-minted, and you just gradually get your share by showing up and verifying that you've hit the button once per day.
So wait, what's to stop someone from buying a billion cheap devices and just pushin' the button on all of them once per day? A "know your customer" (KYC) identity verification requirement to actually move or use your minings, that ties your personal identity to that one particular account. You can freely move your account to new devices simply by logging in, but doing that on multiple devices doesn't help you at all (you just get the one check-in per account per day).
Long-term, the overall system is that the earlier you get in and mine the more your Pi is worth. Whenever the network user count increases by a factor of 10, the base Pi mining rate gets halved. There is a total all-time maximum supply of 100 billion tokens.
The one "work" element to this basic process is that you will sometimes randomly have to watch an ad after hitting your mining button for the day. This seems to be about a 50/50 chance, and the ad is the standard sort of thing you see in "freemium" mobile games and is usually easily skipped out of in short order.
SITE HISTORY / LEGITIMACY
Pi Network got its start in early 2019, and for a long while people thought it was gonna wind up being nothing more than pie-in-the-sky as it had a number of ups and downs through the early 20s. But it's a legit project backed by legit funding, and almost exactly six years later it finally took its big "Phase 3" step of beginning to be listed on cryptocurrency exchanges.
After all this time, and tens of millions of users across the world, it's definitely not a scam and really doesn't appear to be in any danger of collapse at this point. The only question is how far it will go and how much its tokens will end up being worth.
INTERNATIONAL ACCESS
Pi Network is available globally, but as part of the KYC process you may have to prove you are at least 18 years old. This involves submitting a photo of a valid government-issued ID through the app that demonstrates your name, date of birth and residential address.
All users will eventually have to do KYC or lose their accumulated Pi, but for many people the process has been paused until at least the end of 2025 as they apparently do not have the manpower or system in place to check all of these 10s of millions of IDs. The "Mainnet" tab in the app will tell you what your deadline is, if you're able to proceed through all the steps at this point, and provide links to the steps that are left. There is an "expedited" KYC method by creating an account with some sort of partner called "Banxa" and spending $20 USD to purchase Pi there, but apparently this is not available in all countries and there are several US states it cannot be done from as well.
There are some restrictions on nations using Pi, but the official FAQ page is cagey about exactly who and where. News articles indicate China is heavily restricted from trading and selling. Some of this may have to do with regional laws that ban all types of crypto, such as those in Thailand. But as of this writing, the biggest problem is a limited list of exchanges that it is listed on that are not available in every country. You can always mine and hold onto it and hope things change in the future, but for now there are some parts of the world where you can't do very much with it.
STARTING OUT
Starting out is about as easy as it gets - find the Pi Network app on the Android or Apple app store and install. It's small and easy to deal with, and the Android one will install and work fine for Chromebook users.
You can begin mining and accumulating immediately just by connecting a valid email address to your account and receiving a verification email. But, as mentioned above, for transactions you'll need to complete KYC steps and at the moment you might not be able to complete the full list for some months.
You can keep it as simple as just tapping the button every 24 hours to mine, but there are some added earning opportunities. You can boost your mining rate by adding up to five other miners to your "Security Circle." The idea with this is that it should be people you personally know in real life, and their phone number will need to be in your phone contacts to add them. It's also best to add people who have either done KYC already or you are certain are going to when it becomes available.
Another quick boost to your mining rate is to set a "lockup period." This is essentially kind of like staking; you set a percentage of your Pi that will become ineligible for transfer for a while, and a length of duration (from one month up to several years), and the greater the commitment the more of a mining boost you receive. The highest possible boost is 200% at the moment.
There is also a more general referral system, called the "Ambassador" program (you can join via our referral link here or use code " ministerkataoka "). Every new referral provides a 25% boost to your current base rate during the time periods you and that person are both actively mining. There is no limit to referrals, and there is one additional incentive to this program: if a referral ends up developing and launching a Pi app, you get a one-time 1,000 Pi bonus! As a new user, if you sign up using someone's referral code, you get a 1.25 Pi bonus to start out.
What was that about apps? Pi Network allows for decentralized app development and use through its own main app, via the partner app Pi Browser. This allows for an opportunity to use Pi as currency, some examples that are presently running are retail storefronts and a bunch of games including a poker app. However, this feature only just launched and as of this writing the ecosystem and apps are in a pretty rough and rudimentary state.
Don't want to develop an app? Or gamble? No problem. You can get a sporadic "utility bonus" from spending time just using the various Pi apps and the Fireside message board.
And if you have some hardware to devote to the task and some home internet to spare, you can run a Pi node. This is more like traditional Bitcoin-type mining and is a bit more involved, but the upside is it can be done on very modest (and fairly old) computers so you may well have a device laying around already fit for the task. Just note that this also requires you to separately check in and push a button once every 24 hours to keep it running.
PROBLEMS WITH PI NETWORK
At least at the moment, you're still really on your own for figuring everything out (even after six years of development). There's no real "tech support" to speak of beyond a few unpaid volunteers you might be able to chat or message with. While the app is fairly well-designed, a lot of aspects are not really self-explanatory and require tracking down outside explanation - including one of the most fundamental things, how to view the Pi you've mined and the difference between in being in the app and in your wallet! The project is also in the midst of the mainnet "migration" and it's really not well-explained to new users what that is or if there is something they need to personally do.
Unless you take the paid Banxa shortcut, finishing the KYC process requires you to wait to get a "slot" (basically an appointment) to do it. Some people are reporting waits of 1 to 3 years to get a slot! However, others with relatively new accounts say it's only taken several months. Personally I've only been using it for about two months and have heard nothing about this yet.
FINAL VERDICT - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
If you have an Apple or Android device, there's really no reason not to install this and at minimum just tap the button once per day. It's possible it could amount to no more than a few USD in the end, but there's always the chance that years from now you could be sitting on hundreds to thousands from this minimal effort.
The big question is, of course, how much is it gonna be worth? At the moment, since it began listing on crypto exchanges around two months ago, it's fluctuated between about 50 to 80 cents USD per coin. Long-term, who knows. The future value seems to primarily hinge on people adopting it as a payment method. It has unique potential in the fact that its user base will eventually be entirely KYC'd, something not done with nearly all other types of crypto. I'm no expert, but from a general survey of a couple of discussion forums the very optimistic view seems to be $100 USD per coin in a few years. $1000 per coin would be the long shot pie-in-the-sky if there's some sort of incredible luck within the next 10 years. But hey, it's an easy and simple long-term gamble at no real risk and about the most minimum effort possible.
Links
- Official website
- Unofficial Reddit FAQ
- Official support portal
- Official Telegram channel
- Regularly updated list of exchanges that have added Pi
