Pi Coin (PI) experienced a sharp price decline exceeding 30% within 24 hours following the Pi Network Core Team's unveiling of a $100 million venture capital fund dedicated to supporting decentralized application (DApp) development and startups across various industries. Previously peaking near $1.5, the token dropped to approximately $0.84-$0.92 in this period, erasing nearly 45% of weekly gains and wiping out nearly $5 billion in market capitalization.
The fund, named Pi Network Ventures, aims to boost innovation in blockchain-native startups as well as sectors including generative AI, gaming, fintech, e-commerce, and social platforms. However, the announcement sparked widespread community frustration. Longtime Pi pioneers expressed anger toward the Core Team for what they view as neglect toward early supporters and a lack of functioning DApps despite six years of development. Critics argue the project has prioritized external investments over platform growth and user incentives, highlighting that over 94% of users hold fewer than 1,000 Pi tokens, reflecting disappointing referral and reward models.
Community leaders, such as Dr Altcoin, openly criticized the Core Team's communication and alleged broken promises, fueling further distrust. Alongside the negative sentiment, a recent 5.2 million token unlock boosted short-term supply and trading volume by 35% to $951 million, intensifying price volatility. Despite technical indicators showing mixed signals—with buying supports near $0.85 and potential short-term bullish momentum—market participants remain cautious, awaiting visible developments such as live DApps or increased ecosystem adoption to rebuild confidence.
The Pi Network presently claims over 70 million users globally, but many question the tangible value of their involvement in absence of functional applications or meaningful rewards to date. Overall, the mixed response to the fund launch underscores growing tensions within the community about the project’s direction and long-term viability.