Pi is a new cryptocurrency that you can “mine” (or earn) from your mobile phone. Cryptocurrencies are new form of digital money that are maintained and secured by a community, instead of governments or banks. Today, you can mine (or earn) Pi by helping to secure the currency and by growing and supporting the network. While most cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin) have been very hard for everyday people to use and access, Pi puts the power of cryptocurrency into the palm of your hand.
>What is the value of Pi?
Pi’s value will be backed by the time, attention, goods, and services that you will be able to buy from other members of the Pi Network. By pooling our attention, goods, and services around a common currency, Pi’s members seek to capture more of the value that typically goes to banks, technology giants (e.g., Facebook, Amazon), and other intermediaries. Today, we are laying the infrastructure for this digital currency and marketplace by distributing the currency, building the community, and developing the technology to ensure its security. During this phase of development, Pi is worth approximately 0 dollars / euro / yen etc., similar to Bitcoin in 2008. Its long-term exchange rate value will depend on the whole network’s collective contributions.
Henry Jenkins
We're all gonna make it, fren. 24 is as much as I've been able to get.
>Does it drain my battery or data? How can I mine from my phone?
Instead of burning energy, Pi secures its ledger when members vouch for each other as trustworthy. This forms a network of interlocking “security circles” that determines who can execute transactions. This novel approach allows crypto mining on your phone by leveraging your existing social connections, with no financial cost, no battery drain and a light footprint on the planet. Read the technical section in our White paper for more accurate and detailed explanation.
>What is the strategy to make Pi a real currency?
We have a two-pronged strategy to ensure that Pi thrives as a digital currency. The first prong is building the technical infrastructure for a decentralized currency. We have a three-phased plan here: 1) our current phase focuses on distributing the currency and setting up the requirements for Pi’s consensus algorithm, 2) a testnet where we begin to experiment with decentralized validation of transactions, and 3) a mainnet where transactions will be decentralized
The second prong is building out the peer-to-peer marketplace where our members can use Pi to barter goods and services. Because Pi works on mobile phones, we have the benefit of being able to pair the currency with a native marketplace. Our plan involves building an ecosystem of decentralized applications (dapps) that facilitate exchanges between members. We are already exploring the first in-app spends of Pi. Keep going, we got this!
Xavier Carter
>Is this app a wallet? And can we use external wallet to hold our Pi in the future?
Yes, your phones will serve as a cryptocurrency wallet that will be linked to your current accounts (number / Facebook). Like with any other public blockchain, Pi’s blockchain will also allow in-app/external wallets to hold Pi and transact with it, by submitting transactions to the blockchain directly. This is a functionality that we have currently scheduled to be provided on the Phase 3 of the project. (as a reminder we are now on phase 1 - distribution of the currency - we will then launch a Testnet as phase 2, and phase 3 is when our mainnet will be live).
Pi aims to be much more accessible to everyday people which is why we are trying to build this integrated interface. We’ve chosen this phased implementation to make it easier for everyday people to use. We are still in our early days, and we are excited for the road ahead of us.
>How does my clicking a button in the app daily prove I’m a human?
There are multiple layers into how we use your daily taps to prove you’re a human.
We use Google’s recaptcha v3 to know if a device is operated by a human or a machine. (This technology is completely invisible to most users, since they are real humans, but bots may start seeing captchas if google’s algorithm catches them).
We’ll also build our machine learning algorithm based on real users’ mining behavior to help predict bots.
Moreover, Pi’s consensus algorithm requirement (security circles) make it easy to detect bots. Bots will not have enough real people pointing at them in security circles. At best, bots would be pointing at each other with very few incoming pointers from the rest of the network. This anomaly is easy to detect with computer algorithms.
Aiden Wright
>How can I become a contributor?
Pi contributor role becomes unlocked for users after they’ve finished 3 days of basic mining as Pioneer. After 3 days of mining, you will see a new icon of security circle on the home screen of the app. You can click there to start then. To become a contributor, you need to add 3-5 people who you trust into your security circle.
>How do I increase my hourly earning rate?
Today, you can increase your hourly earning rate in two ways: (1) building a security circle and (2) inviting more members to join the network. The feature of building a security circle as a Contributor will be unlocked after 3-day mining as a pioneer (tap to prove being a human). Inviting more members to join the network as an Ambassador is available since you join, and each person who signs in using your referral code will give you both a 25% booster on your hourly earning rate, when both of you are mining.
>When can I transfer Pi?
We would like to enable in-app transfers of Pi by Q4 2019. The feature for people to transfer Pi and start a market will be much sooner than the ability to exchange with other currencies, because the Pi network is meant to be the world’s most inclusive peer-to-peer marketplace built by the Pi community together, and Pi’s value will be backed by the time, attention, goods and services that you will be able to buy from other members of the Pi Network. Pi’s core technical team is working on building the infrastructure for that to happen.
I asked again for the 4th time. Only once has someone associated with Pi, their response "I will look into it". Its a pyramid until that is fixed or addressed (which I doubt it would be, as they won't grow without the pyramid).