There are a lot of questions around Pi Network and I spent a few hours yesterday talking to El Cheapo (CryptoGod) about the subject.

The chat was to initially address my own concerns and now the whitepaper makes a little more sense, so I thought I would share what I know to avoid the same discussion from happening over and over again.

Phase One

WE ARE HERE NOW

Technically we are not mining Pi, as the app is still in an experimental/recruitment phase.

The term "community engagement" is verifying you're not a bot on a daily basis, this is to avoid farmers. Pi is accumulated based on your network and a timer, it doesn't breach Google Play terms of service as it is not using your phones processing for proof or work.

I know the terms used is "the first crypto to mine from your phone" and this is false from a technical perspective, but kind of true from a marketing perspective.

Phase Two

Phase two is the testnet phase, where we can start using nodes on the network. This is to smooth out all the bugs before going onto the mainnet and will probably take a while before reaching Phase 3. I think a Raspberry Pi 3+ would be powerful enough to run a node.

The main objective is to build trust networks which act like mining pools, and soon we can use our phone account to log into the network using a node to mine more pi and keep our trust network open for processing.

The whitepaper clearly says that the app will become a marketplace. The marketplace will allow pi circulation as this is key to be listed in the exchange. Pi-oneers can buy or sell services/products inside the marketplace.

It isn't very clear on what the marketplace is yet, or how it will function. Keeping the circulation of Pi within the app itself makes it a centralized cryptocurrency until it reaches an exchange.

My personal opinion about the marketplace (not official) is it will be similar to what AliExpress wants to be;

• AliExpress were a marketplace first, and now they're tying to make it a community,
• Pi Network is focused on community first, then it will become a marketplace.

Phase 3

Phase 3 Pi will be looking to enter exchanges, and with enough Pi in circulation from the marketplace the exchange may approve it due to the generating demand to buy/sell the token from the marketplace.

Currently there are a few exchanges that are listing Pi and they are basically scams. Pi is nothing more than a developing project, so it doesn't even have a real token yet. This goes the same for UpLibra and so many other scam tokens circulating in Telegram groups and Facebook Pages/Groups.

Do your homework and don't be scared to ask questions or answer them to generate discussion (despite what Colleen McGarry thinks) because that's how we learn.

Update (article edited): More details on owners of the Pi Network with a rolling update.

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If you are already in the network and not in the groups then join the discussion here.