PI Price Plummets Despite Pi Network Mainnet v20.2 Update
The Pi Coin Core Team has completed the Mainnet v20.2 upgrade, laying the groundwork for the adoption of smart contracts. This v20.2 Mainnet upgrade is considered a key technological advancement for the Pi Coin ecosystem. Through support for Protocol 20, the Core Team has strengthened the technical foundation for implementing smart contract functionality, interpreted as a strategic progression aimed at expanding DApps and various services beyond a simple payment network. Following sequential updates, including v19.6 on February 20th and v19.9 on March 4th, the introduction of v20.2 marks the completion of the technical roadmap. Smart contract functionality will not be introduced all at once but is planned for gradual expansion, prioritizing utility-centric products and operations aligned with actual service utilization. The Core Team stated that the specific form will vary depending on ecosystem use cases, indicating that the technical foundation for future DApp development and service integration has been laid.
With the technical upgrade complete, the activation of services based on smart contracts and the securing of actual user demand have emerged as key indicators to watch going forward. Despite the technical progress, market reaction has been cold. The PI price has plummeted by nearly 50% in recent days, falling below the $0.20 mark and reaching lows below $0.175. The upward trend, which had surged to $0.30 around the news of its listing on the US exchange Kraken on March 13th, reversed into a sharp decline, leading to a 'Sell the news' pattern compounded by profit-taking. The market is focusing more on whether actual demand will be generated rather than on technical expectations. Whether the introduction of smart contracts can lead to an expansion of Pi Coin's actual utility is emerging as the key variable that will influence future price movements.
However, excluding the approximately 16 million PI tokens set to unlock on March 20th, the amount of new tokens to be released over the next month will be significantly reduced compared to February, potentially easing short-term supply pressure.