Pi Network activated Protocol v25 on July 22, its latest major upgrade of 2026, yet PI stalled below $0.10 after a rally carried the token briefly beyond that level.

The result echoed earlier upgrades. Recent protocol releases drew trader interest but failed to produce a lasting price gain.

Pi Coin’s Rally Stalls Amid Protocol Upgrade 

PI slipped to an all-time low of $0.0705 on July 14. It recovered through the following week, briefly spiking to an intraday high of $0.103 on July 19, but failed to hold the level

Buyers positioned into the July 22 upgrade, a dated catalyst that gave the market a clear event to trade around. Both price and volume increased before the release landed.

Pi coin has since eased back toward $0.0918, unable to reclaim the $0.10 level it briefly tagged. 

Volume tells the same story. Daily volume rose to $33.7 million on July 20, then fell to about $18.5 million on launch day and has been lower since. Buyer interest thinned as the event passed.

Protocol v24 followed a similar pattern in June. PI posted modest gains ahead of the upgrade, only to resume its downtrend.

Why the Pi Network Upgrade Struggles to Move Price

Protocol v25 introduces BN254 cryptography and Poseidon hashing, the building blocks for building modern zero-knowledge applications. The Pi Core Team also shipped a redesigned mining app for its 60 million Pioneers.

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The improvements are real, yet the price response was muted. The answer lies in broader market forces and PI’s own supply.

Exchange flows show little sign of forced selling. Tracked exchange wallets recorded a net outflow of about 260,000 PI over 24 hours, a minor move against balances near 540 million PI.

The pressure sits further out. According to PiScan, roughly 1.71 billion PI, worth about $157 million, is scheduled to unlock over the next 12 months, with the heaviest single month near 432 million PI in December 2027.

That steady release meets a thin market, capping rallies regardless of upgrade news. The same overhang blunted earlier releases.

Development news drives short-term bounces, while unlock supply sets the ceiling. Whether v25 can convert utility into demand remains the open question for the weeks ahead.

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Source: BeInCrypto