Although it still faces skeptics and critics—including some within the wider Pi Network community—the project’s team asserts that it does certain things better than most other digital asset protocols.
In a recent post on X, the Core Team emphasized one key component of their infrastructure that they believe outperforms comparable solutions.
Pi Reiterates Its Position
Pi Network co-founder Dr. Chengdiao Fan addressed the issue at the 2026 Consensus conference in Miami. In her remarks, she criticized many token projects for prioritizing fundraising over product development:
“Tokens have enabled advanced financial mechanisms, but there is a shortage of underlying utility and substance. Many tokens are used primarily to raise capital without delivering product innovation. People gain easy and immediate access to capital without doing the hard work needed to complete builds. There is too much value extraction without matching value creation across the crypto space.”
By contrast, Fan and the team say Pi Network is taking a different path: its token is designed to function as a practical tool for user acquisition, product engagement, and sustained utility rather than simply a fundraising instrument.
She noted that Pi leverages crypto capabilities—such as token issuance, payment functionality, and smart contracts—and aligns them to address the problem of “quick exits” by emphasizing genuine product development and long-term value.
The Core Team previously made similar points last month, arguing that Pi’s thorough verification process makes its claims about having 1 million verified users distinct from similar counts on other networks, where verification can be far less rigorous.
Introducing Pi Launchpad
Those concerns and goals culminated in one of Pi’s proposed solutions: the Pi Launchpad. The team described this initiative as a framework for ecosystem tokens and launch mechanisms intended to help products attract real users who engage, provide feedback, and use tokens within authentic product experiences.
Like several recent Pi Network offerings, Pi Launchpad will incorporate artificial intelligence. The team argues that AI lowers barriers to building applications—creation is no longer the main constraint—and that combining AI with other elements strengthens utility and adoption.
Pi Launchpad is presented as a blend of AI, blockchain infrastructure, innovative token and launch mechanisms, identity verification, and access to a large, engaged network of verified users. Together, these components are intended to close the gap between token distribution and meaningful token usage by focusing on verified user engagement, product feedback loops, and practical on-chain and off-chain experiences.
In short, the Pi team proposes that by integrating robust verification, targeted launch tools, and AI-assisted development, the Pi ecosystem can foster projects that generate actual utility and sustainable user engagement rather than short-term speculative gains.