Pi Coin Price News: Whale Buys 7M Tokens, Kraken Lists Roadmap — But 0.2% Wallet Activity Raises Red Flags

Pi Network is flashing the most conflicted signals in crypto. The largest whale just resumed buying 7M PI Coin at all‑time lows, and Kraken added Pi Coin to its 2026 listing roadmap. Yet on‑chain data reveals just 0.2% of wallets are active, token unlocks loom, and price hovers near $0.13. We examine the paradox, the testnet DEX, and whether Pi Coincan finally transition from mobile mining phenomenon to real‑world utility.

The $50 Million Whale Returns — But Pi Coin Price Keeps Falling

On February 6, 2026, the largest known wallet in the Pi Network ecosystem stirred from a month‑long slumber.

The whale, which holds over 383 million PI tokens—worth approximately $50 million at current prices—purchased an additional 7 million tokens, spending roughly $938,000 . This acquisition followed the transfer of tokens valued at over $2 million to two unknown addresses days earlier .

The timing was notable. Pi Network had just appeared on Kraken’s 2026 listings roadmap, placed under the “Chains” category alongside other prospective blockchain integrations . For a project that has spent six years fighting skepticism about its legitimacy, a potential listing on the second‑largest U.S. exchange by volume is the closest thing to institutional validation it has ever received.

Yet the price response was anything but triumphant.

PI/USDT continues to hover near $0.13–$0.15, just above its all‑time low of $0.1028 and more than 95% below its February 2025 peak of $2.98 . The whale, at its peak, held tokens worth over $140 million. Today, that same position is worth less than a third of its former value .

This is the** **Pi Coin paradox: bullish signals accumulating, bearish price action persisting. The whale is buying. Kraken is watching. The mainnet is live. And yet the market remains unconvinced.

Kraken Roadmap: Listing Hope or Hype?

On February 5, 2026, Kraken updated its 2026 listings roadmap. Under the “New Chains & Tokens” section, Pi Network appeared by name .

The inclusion does not guarantee a listing. Kraken explicitly states that projects on its roadmap must still meet technical, regulatory, and liquidity requirements before full integration. But it does signal that the exchange is actively evaluating** **Pi Coin—tracking its mainnet progress, developer activity, and user metrics.

For Pi’s 60 million registered users, this is the most tangible exchange validation since the project’s 2019 launch. Several CEXes including Gate already offer PI/USDT trading pairs, but these are limited in liquidity and geographic availability. Kraken’s U.S. footprint, regulatory standing, and institutional client base make a potential listing qualitatively different .

Yet market reaction was muted. The token briefly touched $0.15 after the announcement before resuming its downward drift. Traders have seen this movie before: roadmap inclusions that drag on for quarters, listing timelines that slip, and eventual disappointments.

The Kraken news, in isolation, is bullish. But it is arriving in a market environment where even confirmed listings often fail to generate sustained rallies. And** **Pi Coin has larger structural problems that no single exchange listing can solve.

The 0.2% Problem: Why Pi’s 60 Million Users Aren’t Showing Up Onchain

Pi Network claims more than 60 million registered users globally, with particularly strong concentrations in Nigeria (10%), India (9%), and Brazil (3%) . By this metric alone, it is one of the largest cryptocurrency communities in existence.

Yet on‑chain data tells a radically different story.

According to comprehensive analysis published in January 2026, only 120,000 wallets engage in on‑chain transactions—approximately 0.2% of the claimed user base . Even among the 17.5 million users who have completed KYC verification, wallet utilization remains critically low.

This is not a minor discrepancy. It is an existential gap.

A network with 60 million registered users but only 120,000 active wallets is not a decentralized economy. It is a mailing list. The vast majority of “Pioneers” have never migrated their tokens to mainnet, never participated in a DeFi transaction, never used Pi as a medium of exchange. They open the app, tap the lightning button, and close it.

The Pi Core Team has spent 2025 and early 2026 attempting to bridge this gap. The Open Network launched on February 20, 2025, enabling external connectivity and real‑world transactions . Enhanced KYC processes and palm‑print authentication have unblocked 2.5 million additional users for mainnet migration . The testnet DEX and automated market maker, launched in late 2025, allow users to simulate swaps and liquidity provision in a risk‑free environment .

Yet the engagement metrics remain stubbornly flat. The gap between registration and participation is the single greatest challenge facing Pi Network today—and no exchange listing can close it.

The Stellar Protocol v25 Upgrade: Technical Progress Beneath the Price

Amid the price weakness and user engagement concerns, Pi Network has continued to ship meaningful technical upgrades.

On January 23, 2026, Stellar Protocol v25 went live on Pi’s mainnet following a successful two‑week testnet period and a governance vote by Stellar developers . The upgrade introduced X-Ray, an enhanced privacy protocol supporting zero‑knowledge cryptography while maintaining base‑layer transparency.

For Pi developers, the implications are substantial:

BN254 Support: Native compatibility with a popular pairing‑friendly elliptic curve used for onchain verification of ZK‑proofs, enabling smoother migration of existing ZK applications and reducing costs for privacy‑focused smart contracts.

Poseidon Hash Functions: A family of ZK‑optimized hash functions that allows developers to deploy privacy features without manual code customization.

App Studio Upgrades: Simplified in‑app payment integration via Test‑Pi, reducing technical integration time and allowing non‑coders to add payment functionality through natural language prompts .

These are not cosmetic improvements. They represent genuine technical maturation and suggest that Pi’s developer ecosystem is preparing for a broader application layer. The network now claims over 51,800 applications built on the platform, with more than 100 mainnet‑ready .

Yet here again, the utilization gap persists. Applications exist. Users do not use them.

The Tokenomics Trap: 100 Billion Supply and 2026 Unlocks

Pi Network’s tokenomics have always carried an asterisk.

The maximum supply is capped at 100 billion tokens, with approximately 65% allocated to community mining rewards. Current circulating supply stands at roughly 6.04 billion—barely 6% of the eventual total .

This is not inherently problematic. Many successful cryptocurrencies have long issuance schedules and gradual supply releases. But for** **Pi Coin, the combination of minimal circulating supply, concentrated whale holdings, and impending unlock events creates acute price sensitivity.

Just 22 wallets control a disproportionate share of circulating tokens, each holding over 10 million PI . The largest whale, now accumulating again, holds 383 million tokens—approximately 6.3% of the entire circulating supply.

January 2026 marked the first significant unlock event, with 136 million PI tokens entering circulation . July 2026 will bring the expiration of three‑year vesting periods selected by many early adopters, potentially releasing additional supply .

The Core Team has not announced any token buyback or burn mechanism, leaving the market to absorb this supply organically. In a low‑liquidity environment with modest exchange volume—Pi’s 24‑hour spot volume currently below $33 million —even incremental selling pressure can have outsized price effects.

Pi Network: Key Metrics at a Glance

Claimed Registered Users: ~60 million** **

KYC‑Completed Users: ~17.5 million** **

Active Onchain Wallets: ~120,000 (0.2% of registered)** **

Mainnet Migration: Open Network live since Feb 20, 2025; 2.5M newly eligible users** **

Maximum Supply: 100 billion PI** **

Circulating Supply: ~6.04 billion (6%)** **

Whale Concentration: 22 wallets hold >10M PI each; largest whale holds 383M PI** **

Exchange Status: OKX, Bitget, HTX active; Kraken roadmap; no Binance/Coinbase** **

Current Price Range: $0.13–$0.15 (down ~95% from $2.98 ATH)** **

Technical Throughput: ~200 TPS, 5‑second block time (Stellar Consensus Protocol)** **

Recent Upgrade: Stellar Protocol v25 (X-Ray ZK privacy) live Jan 23, 2026** **

Upcoming Unlocks: 136M PI (Jan 2026); three‑year vesting expirations (July 2026)

Testnet USDT and the DeFi Pivot: Can Pi Coin Learn by Doing?

One of the more intriguing developments in Pi’s 2026 roadmap is the emphasis on testnet‑based DeFi education.

The testnet currently circulates approximately 59,000 simulated USDT, enabling users to practice swaps, liquidity pool contributions, and wallet management without financial risk . The DEX and AMM on Testnet v23 have demonstrated functionality mirroring real‑world DeFi ecosystems, organizing liquidity around PI‑denominated pairs to reduce volatility and slippage.

The strategy appears to be: teach users DeFi in a sandbox, then transition them to mainnet when the tools are proven and confidence is established.

PiStable, a proposed stablecoin pegged to the golden ratio ($3.14159), is slated for 2026 deployment alongside PiSwap, PiVault, and PiBridge. Community governance via PiDAO is intended to decentralize decision‑making and funding allocation .

These are ambitious, credible plans. They acknowledge Pi’s fundamental weakness—user disengagement—and attempt to address it through education rather than speculation.

Yet the timeline is compressed, and the baseline is low. Moving from 0.2% wallet utilization to meaningful DeFi participation requires not just tooling, but behavioral change. And behavioral change, in crypto, is the hardest engineering problem of all.

The ChatGPT $5 Prediction: Aspirational or Absurd?

On February 10, 2026, an AI‑generated price prediction circulated widely across crypto media. ChatGPT, prompted with current market conditions and Pi’s development roadmap, projected that PI could reach $5 by year‑end 2026—a 2,700% rally from current levels .

The analysis cited Pi Coin’s partnership with AI firm OpenMind, recent testnet upgrades, and the Kraken roadmap as catalysts. It also noted that** **Pi Coin has “outperformed several large‑cap cryptocurrencies” following positive announcements .

It is worth stating explicitly: a $5 Pi Coin price would imply a fully diluted valuation of $500 billion, higher than Ethereum’s current market cap and roughly equivalent to the entire crypto market ex‑Bitcoin and Ethereum. This is not a forecast. It is fantasy.

The more sober projections from exchange research desks place Pi Coin between $0.24 and $0.55 by year‑end 2026, assuming favorable conditions and successful ecosystem execution . Even these targets require a material improvement in exchange liquidity, user engagement, and supply absorption.

What Comes Next: Three Scenarios for Pi Network

Pi Network is no longer a pre‑mainnet speculation vehicle. It is a live blockchain with real users, real applications, and real challenges. The next 12 months will determine whether it becomes a legitimate player in the Layer 1 landscape or fades into crypto obscurity.

Scenario A: The Engagement Breakthrough (Probability: Low)

Pi successfully converts a meaningful percentage of its registered user base into active onchain participants. Testnet education yields mainnet adoption. The DEX and stablecoin products gain traction. Exchange listings expand liquidity. Price consolidates in the $0.30–$0.50 range by year‑end, with gradual appreciation thereafter.

Scenario B: The Liquidity Trap (Probability: Moderate)

User engagement remains stagnant. Token unlocks continue to supply overhang. Exchange listings occur, but trading volume remains thin relative to supply. Price ranges between $0.10 and $0.20, with occasional speculative spikes that quickly fade. Pi becomes a “zombie chain”—technically functional, but economically inert.

Scenario C: The Distribution Event (Probability: Low-Moderate)

Whale holders, including the 383M PI wallet, begin distributing into any available exchange liquidity. Price breaks below $0.10, triggering stop losses and further selling. The network continues to operate, but token value becomes decoupled from ecosystem development. Recovery, if it occurs, takes years rather than months.

Conclusion: The Whale Is Buying, But The Network Must Prove Itself

The largest Pi whale just added 7 million tokens to a position already worth $50 million. That is not the behavior of an entity preparing to exit. It is the behavior of an entity that believes, against considerable evidence, that the current price does not reflect the network’s long‑term potential.

Kraken’s roadmap inclusion lends credibility to that belief. The Stellar v25 upgrade adds technical substance. The testnet DeFi tools offer a plausible path to user engagement.

But the gap between belief and reality remains vast. 60 million registered users and 120,000 active wallets is not a discrepancy that can be waived away. It is the central fact of Pi Network in 2026—and until it is addressed, no amount of whale accumulation or exchange speculation will produce a sustainable valuation.

The whale is buying. The roadmap is expanding. The technology is improving.

The question is whether the 59.88 million Pioneers who have never used the network will ever decide to join it.