Pi Network activated Protocol v25 on July 22, 2026, introducing BN254 cryptography and Poseidon hashing for zero-knowledge applications. The upgrade also shipped a redesigned mining app for its 60 million users. But the PI token, which rallied to $0.103 on July 19, couldn't hold above $0.10 and was trading around $0.0918 on launch day.
What Protocol v25 brings
The new protocol adds BN254 elliptic curve cryptography and the Poseidon hash function — both designed for efficient zero-knowledge proofs. That's a technical shift aimed at enabling privacy and scalability features on the Pi Network. The Pi Core Team also pushed a redesigned mining app, though details on the changes are light. For a network with 60 million users, even a UI tweak is a big rollout.
Token price and volume
PI hit an intraday high of $0.103 on July 19, then slid. By launch day, it was at $0.0918 — still above its all-time low of $0.0705 set on July 14. Daily trading volume spiked to $33.7 million on July 20, then dropped to about $18.5 million on July 22. Exchange wallets saw a net outflow of roughly 260,000 PI over 24 hours, suggesting some holders moved tokens off exchanges ahead of the upgrade.
The unlock schedule ahead
About 1.71 billion PI — worth roughly $157 million at current prices — is scheduled to unlock over the next 12 months. The heaviest month is December 2026, with 432 million PI set to hit the market. That's a lot of supply, and it's coming whether the upgrade drives demand or not.
A familiar pattern
This isn't the first time Pi has seen a pre-upgrade pump and post-upgrade fade. Protocol v24 in June 2026 followed the same script: short-term gains before the upgrade, then a downtrend. With a massive unlock schedule looming, the question is whether the new ZK features can attract enough real usage to absorb the supply. So far, the market isn't betting on it.
