Hello Everyone!
This is my first blog post, so bare with me, I am learning. The other day, I was explaining this to my siblings and I would also like to share it with everyone else! I searched for an article about Pi before I asked to be a writer, but I found only one, old, post. So, here I go.
What is Pi and the Pi Network?
Pi is a virtual currency that can be mined from the Pi Network App on a cellphone, without consuming a lot of your device's resources. Miners must login every 24 hours to hit the mining button to continue mining for another 24 hours. Along with mining, users of the Pi Network can participate in other activities to help grow the Pi Network, with some helping users mine at a faster rate, like inviting (thus verifying) new users to join the Network. Using Stellar's Consensus Protocol (SCP) and Drake's security circle system, Pi's goal is to optimize resource efficiency and be the most user friendly currency application.
When Did the Pi Network Begin?
On March 14th, 2019 (Pi Day), Pi launched their mobile app. A team from Stanford, who also produced the creator of SCP, had helped build the Stanford blockchain community, and now wanted to give everyday people access to cryptocurrency. The team, led by Stanford Graduate and PhD Students, saw the weaknesses of other cryptocurrency blockchains and began collaborating on a currency meant for large community adoption. Pi uses the secure circular consensus mechanism, like SCO, to build a secure circle between it's users, leading to a greatly improved network security.
How does the Pi Network Work?
With Pi, the user doesn't not have to invest anything, at least right now. The app is available for download online, and runs on a smartphone. Everyday, the user logs into the app to mine, but doesn't have to leave the app open, and the app does not use any of the phones resources (you can even mine when you are not connected to the internet). A miner of Pi can play four different roles:
Pioneer - A user of the Pi mobile app, who verifies daily by mining, and has the power to request transactions.
Contributor - A user of the Pi mobile app who contributes by verifying trustful users using their security circle.
Ambassador - A user of the Pi mobile app that invites new users to join the network.
Node - A user of the Pi mobile app who also runs a Pi node on their personal computer to contribute to the trust graph usability.
A user can be more than one of the above. The app rewards users for making contributions to the community, meaning the more you contribute, the more Pi you earn. Pi is earned at an hourly rate, that can be boosted by different actions taken through the app, such as adding users to your security circle, using any apps that have been launched (there is one that is following COVID symptoms that pays you Pi to participate), and inviting new users to join the network. These tasks contribute to the Pi community by verifying users (only invite trusted friends and family to your security circle), and providing mediums to use the Pi currency (App development).
What is a Security Circle?
Each member has 3 - 5 in their Security circle group. The goal of the circles are to build a global trust graph that prevents criminal activity on the blockchain. When you add someone to your circle, you are essentially vouching for those individuals, and deem them all trustworthy.
What is Pi worth?
At the time of this posting, Pi has no monetary value, and is still going through the main test phases to get to final launch.
Phase 1 (design, distribute, and divide circle groups) started March 14th, 2019 with the launch of the mobile app.
Phase 2 (testnet) started when Pi reached over 10 million users, and node software became available for download to start testing the network for the main launch
Phase three (mainnet) is estimated to launch sometime this year. When the community has decided the software is ready the official Pi Mainnet will be launched.
Why I recommend looking into Pi and getting in on the ground floor.
One of the main issues I saw in getting a large population to adopt cryptocurrency was the simplicity of becoming a part of the community and the sense of equality among the users. Pi is easy for the average consumer to adopt into their day to day, as they do with many other apps on their phone, essentially putting the blockchain in your pocket instead of on your desktop (using a lot of energy and consuming resources). The network invites all trustworthy users into the community and lets you start earning right away, without investing and worrying about a loss later.
Finally, Stanford is considered one of the top universities in the world. It is consistently top in computer science and engineering, as well as psychology and mathematics. I wanted to go there when I was little, and I would still love to study there now. If any group and team were going to create a great cryptocurrency that can be used easily in a large population, I would think that Stanford could build it, especially the members of Stanford's Blockchain Collective.
If I Caught You Attention
Visit https://minepi.com/smontes24 to learn more about Pi and the Pi Network. This link includes my invitation code smontes24 which you can use when you sign up, and I will know I was able to reach someone! Thank you for your time. Have a great week!
