What Triggered PI Token's 7% Rebound?

Pi Network (PI) token surged more than 7% to trade above $0.19 on Mar. 20 after a bruising correction that wiped nearly half its value in three days, with attention now turning to the project's upcoming v21 protocol upgrade.

Price Whiplash

PI opened March below $0.175 before climbing above $0.23 by Mar. 9, buoyed by a series of protocol updates.

Kraken then announced it would list the token on Mar. 13, sending PI to a five-month high near $0.30. The rally didn't last. Once trading went live on the exchange, a sell-the-news event triggered a multi-day slide that dragged the price back to $0.175 earlier this week — a roughly 50% decline in 72 hours.

The token bounced to $0.18 on Mar. 19 and extended gains past $0.19 the following day.

Data from shows the average daily token unlock over the next month sits below 5.5 million, though a 16-million-coin release is scheduled for Mar. 20.

Pi Protocol Upgrades

The Pi Network Core Team has been rolling out protocol upgrades at a steady clip. Version 19.6 arrived on Feb. 20, followed by v19.9 on Mar. 4, and the closely watched v20.2 was completed before Mar. 14 — a date the community calls Pi Day.

Version 20.2 was the most anticipated because it laid the groundwork for smart contract support, which the team said will roll out gradually with a focus on utility-based applications. The next upgrade, v21, has been announced but details remain thin. The team posted on X on Mar. 19 urging node operators to keep their systems current: "Node operators, please ensure your systems are up to date and stay tuned for instructions regarding the upcoming v21 upgrade."

Alexey Bondarev is the Head of Content at Yellow.com, having reported on crypto for the last 10 years. He specializes in in-depth Research and Learn pieces, with a focus on analytical reporting, industry context, and the bigger forces shaping crypto, from the AI era and security technologies to fintech innovation. He believes that everything digital will imminently overcome everything analogue and is working hard to make that come true.