Pi Network

The third place winner of Pi Hackathon 2025 is RUN FOR PI, a fast-paced runner game that incorporates Pi directly into its in-game economy. https://youtube.com/shorts/a1XagHWl8bM?feature=share RUN FOR PI stood out for demonstrating a clear, practical use of Pi within the game’s core economy, aligning with Pi’s emphasis on the gaming vertical. RUN FOR PI’s strength comes from using Pi in ways that feel purposeful—tying advancement, competitive elements, and replay incentives to Pi-based actions—and from tapping into the Pi community for user acquisition while providing entertainment utility for Pioneers. Check it out here https://runpi2258.pinet.com/ “My gaming app aims to make a meaningful difference for Pioneers by providing real-world utility for the Pi cryptocurrency within fun, interactive environments via social dynamics such as competitive leaderboard, offering hours of daily user engagement, and collecting and spending on game items. Ultimately, the goal is to create a positive feedback loop where games drive utility, utility drives engagement, and engagement strengthens the entire Pi’s ecosystem.” – RUN FOR PI team

Starmax is the second place winner of Pi Hackathon 2025! Starmax is a loyalty program app that enables businesses to offer loyalty programs using Pi, and Pioneers to use Pi at participating businesses and earn rewards for their engagement. https://youtube.com/shorts/hHi4lg3UDpc?feature=share Starmax offers a practical way for businesses and Pioneers to use Pi through a loyalty system that connects both. Pioneers can spend Pi at participating stores and earn rewards, while businesses can design their own loyalty programs directly within the app to engage with and expand their customer base. Since Starmax’s loyalty system fits naturally into existing store operations, the app has strong potential for real-world adoption, as a potential tool for tens of thousands of merchants integrated with Pi. Check it out here https://starmax6101.pinet.com/ “Pi creates a clear and accessible environment where people can interact, transact, and grow together. Starmax helps Pioneers discover Pi-friendly businesses, earn rewards and support high quality brands. For merchants, it creates a transparent growth engine based on rewards, appreciation and trust. As brands grow, new Pioneers benefit, and the cycle reinforces itself.” – Starmax team

Congratulations to Blind_Lounge, the first place winner of Pi Hackathon 2025! Blind_Lounge is a privacy-first social and dating platform where people connect anonymously and reveal identities only by mutual choice. https://youtube.com/shorts/-v8JNH86N-U Blind_Lounge stood out for its unique approach to social networking within the Pi ecosystem. By leading with anonymity and giving users the option to reveal identities later, it offers a distinct interaction model that increases safety and lowers the friction of meeting new people. With features like requiring all users to be KYC-verified, the app demonstrates a good use case of Pi’s large identity-verified network to solve real-world problems. Check it out here https://blindlounge4830.pinet.com/ “On large platforms such as Instagram or YouTube, people often suffer from false information and fake accounts. Blind Lounge, where only KYC-verified users can participate, provides Pioneers with a trustworthy space for real connections. Beyond simple online interactions, it can become a meaningful meeting place that strengthens the cohesion and foundation of the Pi community.” – Blind_Lounge team

Pi is thrilled to announce the winners of Pi Hackathon 2025—the first hackathon after Open Network launch! Winning apps created meaningful use cases that promote the engagement, accessibility, and utility of Pi. With over 215 Mainnet app submissions, Pi Hackathon 2025 demonstrated developers’ clear motivation to build utility-oriented, production-ready apps on the Pi Mainnet. Read the announcement to see the top three winners and five honorable mentions. https://minepi.com/blog/hackathon-2025-winners/?utm_source=sm&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hackathon-25

Update on KYC validator rewards: The work on distributing rewards for validator contributions has been ongoing and is making progress. It is targeted for deployment by the end of Q1 2026. The first validator rewards distribution requires a significant amount of work to assess and analyze the immense volume of KYC validation task data accumulated since 2021. Learn more https://minepi.com/blog/kyc-ai-integration/?utm_source=sm&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=kyc-ai

Pi’s Standard KYC is now faster and more scalable as a result of integrating additional AI in its validation process, using the underlying technology of Pi Fast Track KYC! The AI integration cuts the queue of KYC applications waiting for human validators by 50%, easing validator-related bottlenecks and potentially reducing processing time for Standard KYC, which enables Pioneers' migration to Mainnet. Learn more https://minepi.com/blog/kyc-ai-integration/?utm_source=sm&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=kyc-ai

Pi’s partnership with CiDi Games represents a major stride toward expanding Pi’s utility and unlocking gaming as a powerful driver of ecosystem growth. https://www.youtube.com/watch/mDbhVjrYjfY

Pi has partnered with CiDi Games because gaming fits perfectly in the Pi Network ecosystem—and gaming is a vertical Pi has already been continuously cultivating in its ecosystem. The partnership is part of Pi’s broader multifaceted, strategic, and ongoing approach to ecosystem expansion, including Pi Network Ventures investments that serve to both capture more production on the network, and contribute to the creation of useful and engaging products. Learn more https://minepi.com/blog/pi-cidi-games/?utm_source=sm&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=cidi-games

The partnership between Pi Network and CiDi Games is designed to expand the real-world utility of Pi and further expand and support gaming in the ecosystem. Learn more https://minepi.com/blog/pi-cidi-games/?utm_source=sm&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=cidi-games

Pi Network has partnered with CiDi Games, accelerating Web3 gaming innovations with scalability and sustainability, and expanding the real-world utility of Pi. CiDi Games is a platform building Pi-integrated games that tens of millions of Pioneers can use, in addition to extending the Pi platform to support other game developers. Strengthened further by a Pi Network Ventures investment, the partnership sets the stage for an era of Web3 gaming where Pi sits at the center of fun, accessible, and meaningful digital experiences. Read the full announcement and understand why gaming fits the Pi ecosystem. https://minepi.com/blog/pi-cidi-games/?utm_source=sm&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=cidi-games

In case you missed it: Watch the video of the TOKEN2049 talk in October by Chengdiao Fan, one of two Pi Founders, edited to include the slides of the presentation used on stage in Singapore. At one of the largest crypto events in the world, her talk explored how blockchain can drive real societal utility and impact, especially in the age of AI, highlighting current challenges in Web3 and potential solutions for pushing the crypto space towards more innovation in real-world utility rather than focusing solely on liquidity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpqkmwFo8Rc

The new code download/upload capability marks a step forward for Pi App Studio in bridging creator and developer experiences. Watch a demo of the feature here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNFUdWebeFM

New features are released in Pi App Studio. Creators can now download and re-upload their app code for further customization and flexibility. This functionality also makes the App Studio a useful prototyping tool for developers that simplifies Pi integration and deployment. Other new features include a new management interface and improved creator interfaces and experience. App creation in Pi App Studio is now more intuitive, organized, and powerful, helping Pioneers build and refine their own utilities for the Pi ecosystem. https://minepi.com/blog/app-studio-code/

Node version 0.5.4 includes a new mechanism that tracks open ports on Pioneers’ Nodes. This update allows for more reliable and secure Node bonus calculations, and is a step towards the larger goal of enabling the migration of Node mining rewards. Read more about what’s included in this version update https://minepi.com/blog/pi-node-0-5-4/

Pi Node version 0.5.4 has been released! This update introduces several improvements to Node performance, Node mining rewards calculations, and the user experience on the Pi Desktop application. https://minepi.com/blog/pi-node-0-5-4/

Pi Network and OpenMind’s proof-of-concept project, where OpenMind’s AI models can run on Pi Node infrastructure, explores the capability of Pi’s global network of nodes to support decentralized AI training and computing tasks. By transforming unused computing power into productive work, this platform-level utility (1) enables AI products to source and fulfill their computation demands from Pi Nodes by paying Node runners in Pi, and (2) allows Pi Node runners to opt in to earn Pi from an additional Node utility, apart from Node mining rewards. Learn more https://minepi.com/blog/pi-network-ventures-openmind/

OpenMind’s technologies create a shared intelligence layer that enables robots to collaborate and learn collectively in a decentralized ecosystem. This complements Pi’s vision for the future of blockchain and AI, where decentralized infrastructure supports open innovation and equitable participation. Read the full announcement to learn more! https://minepi.com/blog/pi-network-ventures-openmind/

Pi Network and OpenMind have completed a proof-of-concept project where volunteer Pi Node operators ran AI models for OpenMind, proving it’s possible for Pi Node operators to run computations for third-party organizations. Learn more https://minepi.com/blog/pi-network-ventures-openmind/

Pi Network Ventures has made its first investment in OpenMind, a company developing an operating system and open-source protocol for robots to think, learn, and work together—like Android for robots. Go to the Pi mining app for more information!

An additional 3 million Pioneers with Tentative KYC cases can be unblocked by the newly released system process if they submit the required additional liveness checks in the app. So, if your KYC status is Tentative and the app requires you to conduct additional liveness checks, complete them as soon as possible! https://minepi.com/blog/system-process-unblocks-tentative-kyc/