The Pi Network Core Team has released a detailed video explanation of its latest update, focusing on a new payment integration feature designed for application creators within its ecosystem. The update, which follows an initial announcement last week, integrates an easy Pi payment feature directly into the Pi App Studio. This allows creators to add in-app payments to their applications without requiring any coding or technical expertise.
However, this new functionality is currently available only for Test-Pi. According to the team's video, creators can open the Pi App Studio within the Pi Browser (the feature is not yet in the Pi Desktop App) to create a custom application. They can then use an AI assistant to generate the payment integration, describe their product, set a price in Pi tokens, and link a Pi wallet to receive payments. The system is designed to let users continue their in-app session seamlessly after making a Pi payment.
This development push stands in stark contrast to the performance of the project's native token, PI. Despite ongoing ecosystem improvements, the token's price has collapsed. After trading sideways between $0.20 and $0.22 for over a month, it broke down earlier this week, plunging to a new all-time low of $0.1687 in the last 24 hours, as per CoinGecko data. The token is down 9% on the weekly chart and over 16% in the past two weeks. More dramatically, it has lost over 94% of its value since its all-time high 11 months ago.
Analyst Dr Altcoin has published a scathing critique, framing the price crash—a decline of over 90% since its first listing in February 2025—as a direct result of a persistent lack of visible progress. He highlights the prolonged delay in upgrading the blockchain to Version 23, which remains on testnet with no clear timeline for a mainnet launch, as a critical credibility issue. Dr Altcoin contrasts this with networks like Stellar, which has already progressed through multiple protocol upgrades. He further criticizes the Pi Core Team for holding billions in Pi tokens while seemingly lacking the engineering capacity to deliver fundamental upgrades, creating a cycle of eroding community confidence and justified price depreciation.
