Founders of Pi Network (PI) answer hot questions: Are pioneers happy?

Pi Network co-founder Nicolas Kokkalis claimed that KYC and migration remain a top priority.

To mark this milestone, the co-founders of the controversial crypto project answered a series of questions to help users better understand Pi’s future strategy, approach, and current work.

KYC and more

The co-founders, Chengdiao Fan and Nicolas Kokkalis, started by praising the “incredible progress” in Pi Network’s operations, app development initiatives, and platform-level tool releases over the past year. Fan claimed that over the next twelve months, the team will focus on expanding its ecosystem by creating additional opportunities for users.

They then moved on to the first question: What makes Pi Network different from other blockchains, and why is utility important? Fan described Pi as “nonconformist” and emphasized that it is distinctive in several fundamental ways. She highlighted that the project has never conducted an ICO, is built on a mobile-first approach, is free to mine and has already amassed tens of millions of verified users worldwide.

From there, the discussion shifted to Pi Network’s emphasis on real-world usability. Fan explained that Pi’s vision has always been about enabling tokens to participate in real economic activities, rather than relying solely on abstract financial mechanisms. According to her, this approach is strengthened by Pi’s fully KYC-verified user base, which the team considers essential to supporting real assets and meaningful value creation across the ecosystem.

The next question: “What is the network working on now?” was answered by Kokkalis. He asserted that KYC and migration remain a top priority, adding that the team has started increasing KYC throughput, unblocking more users, increasing speed and allowing second migrations.

“We are also on track to roll out KYC validator rewards in a secure and scalable manner this quarter. In terms of developer tools and support, we are supporting developers and lowering the barrier to building on Pi through improved tools and simpler integrations, including new tools like much faster Pi payment setups, along with continued support to help developers launch and scale real tools,” he added.

Additionally, Kokkalis said the team will continue to work on nodes, protocol upgrades, and components such as DEX functionality and liqduity pools.

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Perhaps the most important question that intrigues much of the community is the meaning of the Know-Your-Customer process and what comes next. Kokkalis said the team spent years building its KYC solution, explaining that because Pioneers are spread across the world, the system needed to achieve broad geographic coverage and scalability.

The co-founder added that the heavy investment in the feature was intentional, as identity verification is important for the integrity and authenticity of the entire network. Looking ahead, he noted that the team plans to offer its KYC technology as a service to external projects, making it a capability that could support Web3 and traditional businesses.

PI tokens and AI

Another question for the founders focused on clarifying what Pi ecosystem tokens actually are. Fan explained that these are coins created by the community and issued on Pi.

“As many of you know, ecosystem tokens have already been released on Testnet and we are finalizing their implementation on Mainnet. While technology and products are obviously important, we believe the most critical factor on Mainnet will be their design,” she added.

Fan believes the ability to issue tokens is a “key superpower” of Web3, yet she thinks many coins in the crypto space are designed without real-world use.

The final question focused on the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence and how Pi Network plans to integrate that technology. Fan explained that AI is reshaping the way value is created, making it essential that blockchain networks support real-world production rather than relying on speculation. She stated that Pi’s strategy is to build AI-powered apps using tools like Pi App Studio.

Are pioneers satisfied?

Judging from the comments under Pi Network’s anniversary announcement, many users continue to struggle with major issues and urge the team to take more urgent action.

Some pioneers claimed that they have already waited five to six years to complete the necessary verification steps and migrate to the main grid, but they still have not been able to do so. Others went even further, calling Pi Network “a dirty scam project.”