Key Takeaways
Pi Network’s PI token traded near $0.1780 Saturday after a volatile week, as the project mandated a May 15 deadline for its most significant technical upgrade to date.
“The Pi Mainnet is upgrading to Protocol 23 – Deadline: May 15. All Mainnet nodes are required to complete this step before the deadline… This upgrade takes longer to complete, so plan accordingly,” the Pi Core Team said in a recent announcement. CoinGecko data shows the token climbed nearly 9 percent ahead of the previous Protocol 22 deadline before profit-takers stepped in.
The Protocol 23 release is a mandatory infrastructure upgrade that lays the groundwork for native smart contracts and decentralized applications on the Pi blockchain. Built on Stellar Core 23, the update requires all node operators to migrate their systems or risk being disconnected from the mainnet, losing the ability to validate transactions and earn rewards. This follows the successful rollout of Protocol 22 earlier in the week.
This upgrade is the final bridge to a potential open mainnet, a long-awaited goal on the project’s 2026 roadmap. By enabling smart contract functionality similar to that on Ethereum, Pi Network aims to transition from its mobile-only origins into a more robust Web3 utility platform. However, historically, Pi upgrades have produced only short-term volatility followed by sharp pullbacks.
Unlike simple patches, Protocol 23 introduces a deep restructuring of how data is stored, requiring an in-place database migration. The Core Team has advised operators to perform a manual backup of node volumes before initiating the update, warning that the first startup post-upgrade will be significantly slower due to the data rewriting process.
The back-to-back upgrades from Protocol 22 to 23 condense two major infrastructure jumps into a single month. While the move is a critical test of decentralized coordination for the network's thousands of nodes, its impact on price remains uncertain. Whether the May 15 deadline triggers a sustained move will depend on broader market sentiment and how the network handles the transition, rather than the upgrade alone.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
