Pi 2022 End of Year Updates

Welcome to Pi Network’s tech and product update for the latter half of 2022!

Since Pi2Day (June 28th, 2022), the Pi Core Team has made significant progress in building the infrastructures and components needed for Mainnet migration, mass KYC, ecosystem building, and ultimately preparing for the next period of Mainnet.

Pi Network is at an important point in Enclosed Mainnet development, in which Pi is able to focus on two key priorities: enabling mass KYC and empowering ecosystem utilities-building. Both are essential steps toward our objective of building a viable ecosystem to get ready for Open Mainnet.

Today’s update focuses on work we did that is relevant and interesting for Pioneers, and may omit Pi Network’s innumerable efforts and deployments related to interfaces, backend, compliance, community success and bug fixes.

Specific Project Improvements

Mainnet Migration

Mass Mainnet migration has been initiated since Pi2Day (June 28th). Fully migrated Pioneers are now operating on the Pi Mainnet blockchain and using Pi within the Pi ecosystem based on the guidelines of Enclosed Network (read Whitepaper chapters here), and those who have completed the Mainnet Checklist can migrate their Transferable Balance from the mobile phone app to their wallet address on the Mainnet blockchain.

Work done for Mainnet Migration was three-fold:

1. Enable and scale the mass migration based on synchronized data from various sources such as mobile mining, KYC, Mainnet Checklist, compliance, etc.
2. Validate the migration’s correctness and accuracy on all fronts including (but not limited to) balances, compliance and policy violations. Revert it if necessary given the nascency of the migration; solve problems with migrations, and recover and resume from pauses.
3. Streamline the user experience of the migration by ensuring that each essential component is coherently pieced together, such as Checklist, Wallet, Mainnet blockchain, etc.

A few details on work are listed below.

• Post-migration improvements to validation checks during the period pending of migration
  • Verify that Pioneers’ Pi Transferable Balances are correct
  • Once verified, balances can successfully migrate onto the Mainnet blockchain
  • Further verification features also can roll back the migration for anyone needing additional verifications before their full transfer
• Wallet adjustments to facilitate Mainnet Migration
  • To enable Pi to be claimed after the migration pending period
  • To allow Pioneers to access and manage the Mainnet Migration process
  • Entire Wallet user interface updated
• Mainnet Checklist user experience improvements and bug fixes to ensure the smoothest transition to Mainnet possible
  • Multiple Mainnet Checklist user-interface features and bug fixes, e.g. Improvements on Mainnet Balance dashboard, data synchronization in the backend and display, adding and amending steps in the Checklist, etc.
• Post-migration lockups has been developed and will be released soon
  • To allow the lockup of Pi that has been migrated

KYC Solution

As a prerequisite step to the Mainnet migration for each Pioneer, the work on KYC has been primarily focused on 1) improving effectiveness, efficiency and safety of the KYC app, 2) expanding KYC to an increasing number of Pioneers, and 3) analyzing and working on solutions for real Pioneers who have submitted their applications and haven’t received KYC results. Please refer to the recent detailed update on KYC here for progress and next steps.

Pi Platform and Ecosystem + Community

We have put in significant efforts to foster Pi ecosystem growth (one of the two major goals of the Enclosed Network) in order to bring more utilities and use cases to the Pi experience. While multiple new infrastructure features have been deployed or are in development, the Core Team is cultivating ecosystem-building among community and new developers through participation in Hackathons, community development support, external business partnerships, and internal Core Team-created apps.

Specific tech and product work to this end was to:

1. Enable the SDK to connect to the Pi Mainnet and add more functionalities to the Pi SDK, allowing developers to build more complete and user-friendly Pi apps on Mainnet.
2. Encourage and engage developer participation and improve developers’ experience with the Pi platform in a more guided and educated way.
3. Provide infrastructural and advisory support for developers.

A few details on major features are listed below.

• Major Hackathons conducted at top universities, and more Hackathons planned for early January, 2023 with further post-hackathon programs
  • Revamping Hackathon development efforts to build the Pi ecosystem’s utilities and use-cases
  • More ongoing Hackathons planned, starting Jan 9
  • Develop more developer-associated programs to support Hackathon developers for continued development
  • Additional API for App-to-Pioneers is being developed and will roll out either before the end of the year or early January
• Mainnet Pi SDK launched and improved
  • Major update that allows Pi apps to migrate to Mainnet
  • More detailed and clearer documentations - Link to Github documentation
  • Full Developer Onboarding guide here (work in progress)
• Developer Portal updates
  • New "Create App Checklist" released to guide developers on their app creation process step-by-step
  • New dashboard interface for developers to better manage their Pi apps
  • Deployed demo app to enable developers to have a speedy setup of their own Pi apps
  • Enable developers to register for Mainnet apps
• Pi App Engine V2 is deployed
  • Simpler setup for developers who use the Pi App Engine to run their apps on scalable server infrastructure easily while focusing on building their product and frontend features
  • Allows more feedback on deployments to developers
  • Overall improves the Pi apps development process in the ecosystem, especially for selected teams that contribute to the ecosystem and have fewer resources and less knowledge about scalable technical infrastructures
• MVP version of Developer Wallets will be released soon
  • Developers can soon create app-specific wallets that are tailored to support Pi apps-operations rather than personal Wallet uses linked with an individual Pioneer’s account
  • The feature is planned to be available for developers in January.
• Pi Chats infrastructure change is under development
  • Pi Chats backend infrastructure will have a major change to become a more independent application that allows faster development and deployments of future features.
  • Will reduce Chat’s strain and impact on other services (which caused usage outages in the past)
  • Will allow easier future integration of Pi Chats features to the ecosystem

In addition to the tech and product efforts above, a lot of work has been done on the community and business side to nurture an ecosystem-building culture, introduce and educate developers about the Pi platform, motivate and engage developers to build on Pi, and facilitate and support developers to deploy Pi apps. This is foundational work for building a viable utility-based ecosystem—an essential preparation for Open Network.

Looking towards 2023

The network has witnessed major events and great progress in 2022, including the initiation of mass KYC and Mainnet migration and the foundational work of ecosystem-building. Especially in the context of the larger industry upheaval this year, Pi has demonstrated the advantages of its unique and non-consensus strategies—Pi’s long-term vision and the focus on step-by-step building of substance and utilities. Pi Network is not only able to stand firm amongst the noises of the industry’s larger environment, but has also been making steady progress and growth towards its goals guided by its Vision: to “Build the world’s most inclusive peer-to-peer ecosystem and online experience, fueled by Pi, the world’s most widely used cryptocurrency.”

We’re so excited for what’s to come in 2023—another year of building towards our shared goal of reaching the next period of Mainnet. Decentralized efforts are essential to building a decentralized network, which includes the blockchain, the community and the ecosystem with a more complete infrastructure and a wide range of utilities. This effort does not just rest on any one small group, but on all Pioneers together.

In 2023, more communications and guidance will be provided on where and how Pioneers can join forces to further develop and grow the network at a stage when the major parts of the ecosystem’s infrastructure are in place and aligned for things to take place and the ecosystem to flourish. We know you’re eager, and so are we.

Cheers, and we wish you a happy new year, filled with new work, new innovations and new Pi opportunities for the Pi community.