Pi Network (PI) token surged more than 7% to trade above $0.19 on Mar. 20 after a bruising correction that wiped nearly half its value in three days, with attention now turning to the project's upcoming v21 protocol upgrade.
Price Whiplash
PI opened March below $0.175 before climbing above $0.23 by Mar. 9, buoyed by a series of protocol updates.
Kraken then announced it would list the token on Mar. 13, sending PI to a five-month high near $0.30. The rally didn't last. Once trading went live on the exchange, a sell-the-news event triggered a multi-day slide that dragged the price back to $0.175 earlier this week — a roughly 50% decline in 72 hours.
The token bounced to $0.18 on Mar. 19 and extended gains past $0.19 the following day.
Data from shows the average daily token unlock over the next month sits below 5.5 million, though a 16-million-coin release is scheduled for Mar. 20.
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Pi Protocol Upgrades
The Pi Network Core Team has been rolling out protocol upgrades at a steady clip. Version 19.6 arrived on Feb. 20, followed by v19.9 on Mar. 4, and the closely watched v20.2 was completed before Mar. 14 — a date the community calls Pi Day.
Version 20.2 was the most anticipated because it laid the groundwork for smart contract support, which the team said will roll out gradually with a focus on utility-based applications. The next upgrade, v21, has been announced but details remain thin. The team posted on X on Mar. 19 urging node operators to keep their systems current: "Node operators, please ensure your systems are up to date and stay tuned for instructions regarding the upcoming v21 upgrade."
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