Pi Network's native token, PI, continued its downward spiral over the weekend, hitting a fresh three-month low near $0.15 despite widespread anticipation around a pivotal protocol update. The sharp decline unfolded alongside a period of relative calm for Bitcoin, which steadied around $78,000 after a tumultuous week.
After trading sideways between $0.17 and $0.18 for several weeks, PI lost its support at $0.165 on Saturday, sliding to $0.155. The sell-off intensified in the past 12 hours as the broader crypto market suffered a fresh crash, pushing PI down another 6% to under $0.15. This latest leg down has erased any recovery hopes, leaving the token more than 50% below its March peak of $0.30, which was driven by the Kraken listing hype. PI’s market capitalization has tumbled below $1.6 billion, ejecting the asset from the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
The bearish price action comes amid growing frustration over the delayed v23 protocol upgrade. The Pi Core Team had set May 15 as the deadline for the critical migration, which the community expects to enable native smart contracts, dApps, and a Pi DEX. However, the date passed on Friday without any official confirmation of successful deployment, fueling uncertainty. Contradictory reports on social media—some claiming the upgrade is live, others insisting it may take several more days—have added to the unease. Analysts warned that the loss of the $0.165 support opens the door for a slide to new all-time lows.
In contrast, Bitcoin found a temporary floor. After peaking near $83,000 eleven days ago, BTC experienced a series of rejections and fell to a two-week low of $77,600 on Saturday. It has since recovered slightly to trade at $78,000, with market dominance climbing above 58%. Most large-cap altcoins showed little movement; ETH, XRP, SOL, and BNB were marginally in the red, while privacy coins XMR and ZEC posted notable gains. The total crypto market cap remains below $2.68 trillion, down over $100 billion from Thursday’s high.
