Pi Network PI Coin Rebounds 7% on October 14: Hackathon Winners and V23 Upgrade Spark Recovery Hopes

In its latest climb to another ugly pit, Pi Network (PI) is back today, 7.36% higher to $0.2157, as the mobile mining pioneer rides the ecosystem milestones wave in a turbulent crypto environment. Following its bottom of $0.1585 under three days ago, a staggering 20 per cent wipeout per week, the recovery has given PI its first shot of hope in more than 15 years, with 35 million members.

As the trading volume increased by 4.1 to reach a 24-hour high of $52.4 million, the market cap of the token is currently floating at $ 1.77 billion, recapturing some of the Q2 highs of around $ 1.65 billion.

With Bitcoin gaining some ground at about $91,200 after its fall yesterday and the entire crypto market capital approaching the much-needed 3-trillion mark, the outperformance of Pi could indicate the beginning of the rounds of criticism of the notorious grassroots favourite, having long been seen as a so-called ghost chain but now buzzing with practical utility.

The rally marks the end of a vicious correction prompted by a broader market panic, including U.S. trade tensions with China and profit-taking after the altcoin rotations shifted towards Layer-1 giants like Solana.

However, blockchain statistics offer an optimistic outlook: more than 210 blockchain applications (DApps) are operational on the Pi testnet, with 21,000 more under development. This indicates developer enthusiasm amid price fluctuations.

Circulating supply is 8.3 billion PI, and staking is 45% with an APY of 6.8% – it is enough to deter additional dumps, since the whales are hoarding 1.2% of tokens since the 10th of October.

Hackathon Final: 160K PI is the Prize Pool, which Heats the DeFi Innovation Frenzy

The spark for today’s uptick? The final part of the Pi Hackathon, which ends tomorrow, October 15, follows two months of a sprint during which thousands of submissions were made. Introduced in August, the event – which was based on the theme of Utility for the Masses – has given birth to game-changing prototypes, such as DEX interfaces and AMM liquidity pools connected to the wallet app of Pi.

Today, organisers revealed eight winning teams, which will divide a 160,000 PI prize pool (about 34,000 dollars today) among themselves, with the highest prize being a cross-chain bridge that supports PI swaps of Ethereum with USDT seamlessly.

It is not code, this is the blueprint of the DeFi explosion being unfolded by Pi, one of its core members said, with how the AMMs, such as the “PiSwap”, worked 10,000 simulated trades per minute at fees of less than 0.001 – faster than Avalanche and without the power consumption.

The wave of the hackathon is already felt: the number of testnet users increased by 35 per cent last week, and the number of daily active users reached 2.1 million, compared to 1.8 million in September. The buzz in the community about X is electric, and Pioneers are celebrating the event as the catalyst to mainnet magic and may onboard 10 million more miners by year-end with the help of gamified apps.

In addition to the prizes, the hackathon highlights the fact that Pi has shifted its mining gimmick to a full-fledged ecosystem. Such integrations as fiat on-ramps by Banxa, which were launched in late September, now accept 15 currencies, reducing KYC barriers and accelerating wallet activation – a change that eliminated the previous 30-day mining lock, increasing the rate of new user retention by 28%.

V23 Protocol Upgrade Looms: Scalability Boost to Turbocharge Adoption

The imminent upgrade to the V23 protocol, expected at the end of Q4 2025 or early 2026, is an addition of rocket fuel on top of the network guts, which is expected to provide a quantum leap.

Beta information was released by engineers, with claims of 50x improved finality on transaction (as low as 3 seconds), sharded consensus (5,000 TPS) and improved privacy through zk-SNARKs – without compromising battery-friendly mobile mining on Pi.

It is called V23, but is in fact the Ethereum 2.0 of Pi, analysts joking that it may reduce the centralisation risk by half, and that institutional devs making compliant and low-barrier blockchains will develop an interest in V23.

Initial devnet testing indicates a zero downtime of 72 hours, a much better result than Pi during the teething phase of the testnet. Combined with the direct rollout of October 1 DEX/AMM – enabling token swaps and liquidity farming – V23 makes Pi a competitor in DeFi, particularly in new markets where the majority of its users are located (60%).

Whale wallets, which own 25 per cent of the supply, contributed 450 million PI during the dip, according to Arkham data, betting on post-upgrade listings in any one of the big ones, such as Binance (rumours swirl following a denied-then-retraction statement last month).

PI chart-wise, it is flashing a reversal. It cut a hammer candle last night following the capitulation at $0.1585, and RSI is recovering its oversold position of 27 to 45 today. The symmetrical triangle disintegration on the 0.25 level is testing the 0.22 support, but a close over 0.23 may open a 25 per cent leg into 0.28, replicating the May breakout.

Fibonacci levels look at the next level of resistance of $0.32, with October models of CoinDCX predicting between $0.45 and $0.47 next up in case of a bull scenario, and further as low as $0.30 in case of a bear scenario on V23 delays.

Market Background: Pi Grassroots Grit in Altcoin Carnage

Pi has a pop when the memecoins market is flooded, with PEPE dropping 10% and even Cardano down 4% due to trade war nerves. China threatens to fight to the end on U.S. tariffs, and trade war anxiety spreads through all risk assets.

However, the mobile-first spirit of Pi comes through as 70 per cent of its transactions are now through app wallets, and it is beating its desktop-intensive competitors. According to Forbes, Pi has helped to democratize crypto, and its no-hardware-mining system attracted 1.2 million daily miners, most of whom were in Africa and Southeast Asia.

The metrics in the ecosystem are screaming of growth: TVL in Pi DApps has surpassed 150M last week, 40% QoQ, driven by yield farms where PI-USDT pairs are earning users 12% APY.

The cross-border remittances partnerships, such as the teased Stellar tie-up, have the potential of unlocking a volume of 500 million dollars by 2026, according to the analysts. Nonetheless, there are still sceptics – there is no official date of mainnet launch, unregistered securities rumours continue to circulate in the SEC, but today the tide turns.

Risks? A wider retest would involve retesting $0.18 in case Bitcoin rises to $90, and the token unlocks (139 million PI this month), putting a strain on supply. However, of the 75% that are in HODL mode per Reserve Risk, conviction is strong.

Crystal Ball: PI Will Sell Sprint to the Utility in 2026?

With Q4 heating, Pi stars are aligned: November deployment, December V23 beta, and selling whispers would likely jump PI to 0.55 at the end of the year, according to the $0.26 max prognosis by CoinGape. Bullish models project 1.74 in 2025 and highs of 2-3 in case DeFi TVL reaches 1 billion. To the believer, Pi is no hype; the chain of people available, bold, and opening their eyes.

Today’s 7% roar? It’s the Pioneers’ battle cry. The Darwinian economics of crypto make Pi have an advantage, with his survival being the most community-oriented.