On July 22, Protocol v25 went live on Pi Network, bringing BN254 cryptography and Poseidon hashing aimed at privacy-preserving smart contracts. The market's response was a sell-off, not a rally.
PI briefly touched $0.102 on July 20, rebounding from its July 14 record low near $0.0704. Buyers couldn't hold the token above $0.10, and the price has since retreated to $0.090, erasing much of last week's 39% gain.
Futures open interest tells the same story. According to CoinAnk data, PI open interest fell to roughly $9.6 million from a recent peak of $12.1 million, meaning traders are closing positions rather than opening new leveraged bets.
For context, open interest hit $28 million at the start of June and $35 million during May's rally. The current $9.6 million leaves PI far short of the derivatives participation needed to fuel a use-driven breakout.
Supply pressure isn't helping. PiScan data showed around 127.5 million PI scheduled for release over 30 days, roughly 4.25 million tokens per day. Miners unlocking migrated balances can sell immediately, so every recovery has to absorb that constant outflow.
Institutional demand remains thin. PI has no spot ETF, no corporate treasury buyers on record, and shallow derivatives markets compared to Bitcoin or Ethereum. Pi Network Ventures announced a $100 million ecosystem fund back in May 2025, but only one investment of an unspecified size has been publicly disclosed since then.
The macro backdrop turned hostile at the same time. Brent crude climbed to $98 per barrel on July 23 as Middle East tensions spread into the Red Sea, and traders lifted the odds of a 25-basis-point Fed hike in July to 35%, up from just 12% a week earlier. That kind of environment punishes speculative altcoins first.
On the chart, a close below $0.0895 would expose support at $0.085 and then $0.080. The Protocol v25 upgrade delivered technical improvements, but no immediate uptick in application usage or fresh demand for PI followed the launch.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice or an investment recommendation.
