The recent move by Pi Network to voluntarily freeze its coins has drawn widespread criticism in the cryptocurrency community. The August 2 announcement encouraged network pioneers to freeze their coins in exchange for improved mining speeds. This sparked outrage on social media platforms, particularly on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Locking the Push Pi network token
The locking feature allows users to lock PI before or after migrating to the mainnet.
According to the latest blog, locking after migration through the Pi Wallet provides a mining boost of up to 200% and is directly applied to Pi, which already exists on-chain.
At the same time, lock orders before migration, configured through the main Pi app, will impact future transfer balances and reward expectations.
Once confirmed, lock orders become effective during the specified period and cannot be reversed.
Frustration within the Pi community is boiling over
The timing of the announcement has angered many in the Pi Network community.
Users point to declining token prices, ongoing delays in KYC verification, and slow migration as reasons for dwindling trust in the project.
Many see locking more Pay coins now—without clear benefits or liquidity—as premature and even exploitative.
Others expressed frustration over the slow rollout of promised ecosystem features. Tools like Pi Domains and App Studio remain incomplete or ineffective, despite being available in beta.
This lack of follow-up raises concerns about the project's stagnation while still requiring deeper commitment from users.
Complaints about transfer queue delays are still widespread. Some pioneers reported waiting over a year despite completing all 'Know Your Customer' steps, with most of their balances remaining unverified.
For these users, the option to lock Pi seems irrelevant when they cannot access their coins.
Some users also criticized the core team's silence regarding roadmap updates and unresolved bugs, calling for increased transparency and accountability before requesting more user participation.
Meanwhile, many users remain dissatisfied with the lack of broader listing for Pi Network, specifically on Binance.
However, BeInCrypto recently hosted a podcast discussing why a Binance listing could exacerbate the PI market situation.
Price decline and ecosystem pressure
This response comes amid a decline in the price of Pi, which fell another 11% on Saturday to reach an all-time low.
Overall, the Pi index has dropped by nearly 90% from its peak in February.
Additionally, August saw the release of 160 million unlocked tokens, the largest monthly unlock in Pi Network's history. This additional supply is likely to exert pressure on an already fragile market.
Earlier this week, Pi Network also launched its lowest-ever mining threshold.
This step comes as part of the contractionary emissions model, which aims to control inflation and encourage long-term participation through closure measures.