Pi Network co-founder Chengdiao Fan used her recent appearance at the Consensus 2026 in Miami to explain how Pi Network plans to move away from the typical crypto model focused mainly on speculation and token fundraising.
During her keynote, Fan said the crypto industry still suffers from “too much value extraction without equivalent value creation,” arguing that many projects raise capital first but fail to deliver meaningful utility afterward.
“There are tokens used mostly for raising capital without actual product innovation,” Fan said. “People have too easy and immediate access to capital without actually doing the hard work to finish the building.”
According to Fan, Pi Network is trying to solve that problem by aligning crypto tools with real businesses, product innovation, and long-term user participation.
A major part of Fan’s presentation focused on Pi Launchpad, a new ecosystem model for projects building on Pi’s Layer-1 blockchain.
Fan explained that Pi Launchpad differs heavily from traditional crypto launchpads because funds committed by users would not go directly to project teams. Instead, those proceeds would be permanently deposited into liquidity pools.
“Not only does this address the root problem of the quick exit problem, but it also helps provide a healthy and stable start for the token,” Fan explained.
She also said projects must already have a working app or product before launching tokens inside the Pi ecosystem.
“The prerequisite to launch on Pi Launchpad is to have a working product,” she added.
Fan also explained that users who actively engage with products could receive favorable access or benefits during token launches, helping align users and builders toward long-term ecosystem growth.
Fan repeatedly emphasized Pi’s scale as one of its biggest advantages.
According to her, Pi has over 60 million engaged users globally, more than 18 million KYC-verified users, and roughly 16.5 million active wallets already operating on mainnet.
“User acquisition is the foundation of utility creation,” Fan said. “No matter how sophisticated a product feature is, if there are no users, there will be no meaningful usage and network effects.”
She also highlighted Pi’s growing role in AI infrastructure and human verification systems. Fan revealed that over 526 million human verification tasks were completed by more than one million users through Pi’s KYC network.
“This large distributed workforce can potentially provide human-in-the-loop processes for AI,” she explained.
Fan’s speech comes during an important week for Pi Network. Pi trading volume jumped over 20% in the last 24 hours ahead of the May 15 network upgrade, which could introduce smart contract functionality.
Pi recently moved from around $0.169 to $0.1728, while a breakout above the $0.187 resistance level could open the path toward $0.22 if buying momentum continues building around the upgrade narrative.
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