Important Pi Network News and PI Price Update: August 21

There was a big speculation in the past few days, which, unfortunately for the vast Pi Network community, turned out to be false, at least according to the latest reports.

Nevertheless, we will explore in great detail what it was for, and we will take a look at all the recent news, updates, incoming changes, and PI token movements, so let’s dive in.

PayPal and PI?

Starting with the aforementioned rumor that rocked the Pi community a few days ago, one of the unofficial channels dedicated to covering Pi Network news noted that PayPal might add the project’s native token to its Crypto Payment Ecosystem. The report informed that PayPal’s developer ecosystem listed PI among the supported assets, which would have allowed users to spend it at eligible US merchants with PayPal handling real-time crypto-to-fiat conversions.

However, the same news channel refuted its own statement just a day later. The update reads that “PayPal is not currently listed as a KYB-verified business on Pi Network,” unlike verified platforms such as OKX and MEXC.

Save The Date: August 24

In contrast to the unconfirmed rumors from above, the official X channel behind the project announced earlier this week a major change for certain Pioneers that will come into effect on August 24. Until now, the team charged just 0.25 PI to create an application and another 0.25 PI to edit one.

This meant that the project had to cover the difference between that amount and the higher actual cost of the underlying service. The new approach that will commence on Monday will reflect more closely the standard prices and AI costs and may vary depending on the resources required for each action.

There’s an exception, though. Creators whose apps showcase real utility and usage from users will remain eligible for the previous subsidized pricing, and all of those will be reviewed regularly to determine whether they qualify. In other words, if some developers hadn’t met the necessary criteria at first, they have the chance to update their app and make it more usable to qualify later.

The upcoming model will also remove the option of allowing creators to develop apps meant only for experimentation, testing, or spam.

Version 0.6.2

The Core Team also outlined the introduction of Pi Node version 0.6.2 in mid-August. It came with improvements to SoloHost, node connectivity, and the Pi Desktop user experience. The team explained that five volunteer Node operators participated in the initial distributed computing test and all received jobs, performed the required computations, and returned the results to a Pi coordinator.

In a subsequent post, the team noted that the test validated the “end-to-end flow of tasks across real devices,” which included the connection to the Pi coordinator.

PI Price Update

The native token of the Pi Network ecosystem has experienced some intense volatility over the past few days alongside the rest of the market. Recall that it started the month on the right foot, surging from around $0.08 to almost $0.10 before it was rejected again and dipped to $0.085 within days.

The rebound was halted at $0.09, and the asset returned to its starting position but managed to remain above for a while. Then came the Wednesday market-wide revival in which BTC began its massive uptrend from $64,000 to just under $80,000 on Friday morning.

PI also joined the ride, but in a more modest manner. It jumped by 11% from its $0.086 starting level to almost $0.096 minutes ago, which became its highest price tag in two weeks. However, it was stopped there and has slipped toward the coveted $0.09 support as of press time.

Nevertheless, its market cap has reached $1 billion once again, even though the asset remains 97% away from its all-time high of $2.99 marked in February 2025.