Pi Network celebrates 6th anniversary with 3 new market releases, Pi Coin tanks 14%

Pi Network is celebrating its sixth anniversary on March 14 with the addition of several ecosystem expansions, including a domain auction platform launch, an update to its interface, and the start of its Open Network PiFest shopping period. Pi coin’s price is yet to register any positive impact from the announcement, dropping 14.48% in the last 24 hours.

On social media platform X, The PiCoreTeam account, Pi’s developers, talked about the introduction of .pi Domain Auctions, which will allow users to create personalized domain names, and the commencement of PiFest, a week-long event promoting Pi-powered commerce.

Happy Pi Day 2025, Pi Network’s 6th official anniversary! With Open Network now launched, celebrate the expansion of Pi Network’s ecosystem on all levels and real-world functionality. Multiple releases today include a new .pi Domains Auction that facilitates an important… pic.twitter.com/Xfyaw1CFvl

— Pi Network (@PiCoreTeam) March 15, 2025

According to the network’s blog page, users will be required to use Pi coins in buying domain names in the auction, set to run from March 14 to June 28, 2025, and periods could be extended if new bids are placed within the final 24 hours before closure.

How the .pi domain auction works

The .pi Domain Auction is open to all members of the Pi community, including individuals who acquire Pi through centralized exchanges. Users can participate by visiting the Pi Browser, where they can bid on domain names with a minimum bid of 10 Pi. 

The highest bidder will secure domain names to use exclusively. Registration and maintenance fees will be similar to traditional domain services like the ones provided on Web2.

The Pi team also talked about the auction’s reversible bid system feature, where participants are allowed to withdraw their Pi until the auction closes. Still, individuals that have bought Pi on exchanges will have to follow a different process. Rather than using claimable balances, they will receive a custom Pi blockchain address for each domain they bid on, where they can send their Pi as payment. 

Refunds for these standard payments will only be processed after the auction ends. Once an exchange-based bidder wins a domain, they will need to establish a standard Pi blockchain account to receive it.

First Open network PiFest commences

Pi Network has also launched a shopping event that involves users and merchants on the network, dubbed PiFest, which will run from March 14 to March 21, 2025 worldwide.

PiCoreTeam claims the merchant registration period began two days before the event, and over 100,000 businesses have already signed up, with 49,000 active sellers listed on the Map of Pi, a platform where users can find the participating businesses.

The Web3 project has updated its ecosystem Interface, removing the pre-approval requirement for developers. Previously, developers had to meet specific eligibility criteria before applying to list their apps in the Pi Browser ecosystem. With this update, any developer meeting Mainnet requirements can now apply immediately, eliminating delays in the application process.

Pi Coin continues downtrend after mainnet migration mishap

Pi Coin’s price has fallen from an intraday high of $1.72 to levels below $1.5, against the backdrop of network issues that saw users struggle to migrate their tokens on deadline day. The token has shed over 22% of its value since Thursday.

According to CoinGecko, the token reached its all time high value of $2.99 six days after it started trading, but is now about 51% down from the February 26 highs. It has also seen a 35.3% downtick in a fortnight, and a 19% drop intraweek.  

As of this publication, Pi Coin is consolidating between $1.44 and $1.46, as market watchers wait for more fluctuations over the weekend. The crypto has managed to stay above the $1.40 psychological support level, but is trading way below its 10-day and 20-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMA) at 1.59 and 1.66, and will need to climb past those levels for a positive price correction. 

Cryptopolitan Academy: Coming Soon - A New Way to Earn Passive Income with DeFi in 2025. Learn More