The Pi Network is currently in testnet mode with thousands of connected nodes, and the mainnet is expected to launch later in 2021.
Pi Network, the next-generation project making crypto mining easy and accessible, recently crossed 20 million engaged users on its platform.
The project strives to eliminate the complexities of crypto mining by enabling users to mine using their smartphones. The fact that the platform crossed 20 million engaged users indicates that Pi Network’s idea has struck a chord with the masses.
It is noteworthy that these 20M users are not people who simply signed up or installed Pi Network’s app. Rather, this number suggests the active, engaged members of the community from across the globe. Pi Network uses this number to measure the size of its network and a stat to execute halving (the process in which the mining rate is cut in half). For reference, Pi halves the mining reward rate every time the network grows 10X.
Sticking to that principle, Pi Network has had six halvings so far. The next halving event will occur either when the network reaches 100M engaged members or upon the launch of the Pi Mainnet, the date of which is yet to be determined. The design of the mining mechanism is to strike a balance between achieving accessibility amid the masses and creating scarcity.
Marking this occasion and making it even more special, the project also introduced its Pi App Engine recently for its developer community. At its core, the Pi App Engine is an optional cloud computing-as-a-service platform that lets developers create and test apps in various modes using technologies like Docker and Kubernetes. Verified developers on the platform will be able to build and launch apps on the Pi ecosystem using Pi’s core infrastructure. The Pi App Engine will help developers focus on building their apps’ core functionalities without wasting time on figuring out scalability to Pi’s millions of users globally or the logistics of deployment and compatibility.
Once a developer develops an app, they can launch it in production mode, where it can be deployed and tested across 10s of millions of phones across the globe. However, the app should meet the criteria set out by the Pi core team. The app engine was launched with the aim to facilitate the community to build Pi’s ecosystem and utilities together.
Eliminating the Complexities of Crypto Mining
Cryptocurrencies were developed with a vision to transform our financial systems for the better. But, as mainstream crypto adoption increased, so did the difficulty to mine them. The difficulty created a barrier between common people and this flourishing economy.
With such a mining mechanism and its Pi App Engine, the Pi network is supposedly trying to build an approachable ecosystem where no one is left out of the crypto revolution and is able to interact with a crypto-enabled economy through utilities.
Today, mining a single Bitcoin requires specialized hardware and lots of power which is inaccessible and impractical to the common man. Increasing monopoly becomes inevitable, and off goes our dream of decentralizing the future. This also deters new users from riding the crypto wave.
In an attempt to eliminate the monopoly and to bring cryptocurrencies to the masses, Pi network seems to have a simple yet solution. Pi makes it possible to mine crypto using smartphones. To achieve this, Pi uses a variation of Byzantine Fault Tolerance. According to Pi, this new consensus mechanism consumes negligible energy and fundamentally allows mobile phone users to contribute to the consensus algorithm without draining their phone battery. It also makes the network environment friendly and highly scalable.
The Pi Network is currently in testnet mode with thousands of connected nodes, and the mainnet is expected to launch later in 2021.
A Vision that Resonates with the Masses
The idea of mining crypto on a smartphone might seem absurd at first. But this is the very vision that got 20M people on board on a single platform. The importance of having a large crypto-ready and aligned mainstream network is for the crypto industry to finally cross the chasm of speculation onto a path to creating a real crypto economy with real-life use cases.
If we are to head towards a future where cryptocurrencies are prime, we need to find ways of simplifying the mining process and use cases. This is exactly where the Pi network is headed. By making it easy for everyone to mine and use crypto, the network is ensuring that no one misses out on the crypto revolution.
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