Pi Coin (PI) Price Crashes 78%, Market Cap Evaporates From $20B to $4.5B

Pi Coin, once hyped as a potential game-changer in the world of cryptocurrencies, has seen a dramatic collapse in value

Pi Coin, once hyped as a potential game-changer in the world of cryptocurrencies, has seen a dramatic collapse in value, plummeting 78% in just a matter of weeks.

Once valued at $2.98, Pi Coin is now trading at around $0.67, and its market cap has shrunk from nearly $20 billion to just $4.56 billion.

Investors who were once optimistic about the coin’s future are now left grappling with heavy losses and mounting doubts. What went wrong, and is Pi Coin doomed, or can it make a comeback?

The Surge and Sudden Crash of Pi Coin

Pi Coin’s rise to prominence seemed almost too good to be true. The project, which began in 2018, set out to create a cryptocurrency that could be mined by anyone on their phone.

Pi gained millions of users, and excitement reached a fever pitch when the project introduced its mainnet in February 2025. At its peak, Pi Coin soared to $2.98, briefly making it one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization.

However, just two months later, its value dropped drastically by 78%, and its market cap took a major hit, shrinking to $4.56 billion. Currently, the price is struggling to maintain any significant value, hovering just above its all-time low of $0.6152.

But what caused this drastic collapse, and why has investor confidence evaporated so quickly?

Excessive Token Unlocks: An Oversupply Crisis

One of the major factors contributing to Pi Coin’s sharp decline is the excessive release of tokens into circulation. According to crypto analyst Alex Obchakevich, the monthly token unlocks are vastly outpacing demand, creating an oversupply that is putting immense pressure on the coin’s price.

In total, over 4.9 billion Pi tokens have entered circulation, with an additional 1.54 billion scheduled to be released within the next year.

“[If the token unlocks continue at this pace,] we can expect to see further drops in the price of Pi as the oversupply overwhelms the market. Investors will become increasingly concerned that Pi will never reach the level of scarcity needed to drive its value up. Instead, we may see the price continue to decline slowly as the token unlocks outpace adoption and use cases,” Obchakevich explained.

A Broken KYC System Hurts Investor Trust

Beyond the market oversupply, Pi Coin is also facing significant problems with its Know Your Customer (KYC) system, a key component of the cryptocurrency’s operation.

Unlike other coins, Pi requires users to complete a KYC verification before they can transfer their tokens to the mainnet. However, this system has proven to be a major obstacle for many users.

Out of the 60 million people who mined Pi, only 14 million have successfully migrated their tokens. Users have complained about failed transactions, missing coins, and a lack of communication from the development team.

These issues have caused a significant loss of trust among Pi Coin’s community, which is largely composed of retail investors.

PiFest – A Failed Attempt to Build Real-World Use Cases

In an attempt to generate real-world use cases for Pi Coin, the Pi Network team introduced “PiFest,” an event aimed at getting businesses to accept Pi as a form of payment. The team claimed that over 125,000 merchants participated.

However, according to blockchain data from ChainPulse, only 104 transactions were executed in total, and the majority of them were executed by a single merchant.

This lack of activity is surprising considering the hype surrounding PiFest and the claimed participation of 125,000 merchants.

The lack of real-world adoption is another major factor in Pi Coin’s struggle to maintain investor confidence. Without a thriving ecosystem or legitimate use cases, the cryptocurrency has failed to demonstrate why it should be taken seriously compared to other established cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Solana.

Is There Any Hope for Pi Coin?

Despite the challenges, some analysts still believe Pi Coin has long-term potential, but only if it shifts its focus toward real development.

Obchakevich suggests that if Pi Coin can improve its transparency, fix the KYC system, and deliver on its promises of real-world adoption, there may still be hope for recovery.

However, skepticism remains high. ByBit CEO Ben Zhou recently went viral for calling Pi Coin a “scam” in an interview with BlockTempo. As the coin continues to decline, the next few months will be critical for Pi’s future.

Without significant changes, the project risks becoming irrelevant in the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency.