Some thoughts about Pi's price, value, and some things that affect them.

In this article, you're gonna learn about Pi's price, value, and some things that affect them.

from pioneer @kozii

I know there's a big divide around Pi's values and people have their own ideologies as to how things should or will be.

Therefore, I feel the need to serve the community by sharing my own thoughts. Instead of shoving down and forcing an ideology down your throat, I'd rather explore topics from different dimensions.

I'm here to feed your Pi's curiosity, not to sell you anything.

Enjoy!

1. How much is Pi worth?
2. What is the value of Pi?
3. How much is Pi going to be worth if X years?

You're not alone if you asked those questions. Countless people, including myself, asked those questions before, asking them right now and will be asking those for years to come.

Surprisingly, every time I speak to someone about the topic of Pi's value, they have a number or a range of numbers in mind. What's interesting is the ideologies behind those valuations and the different scenarios that could lead up to those valuations. I've heard/read hundreds of ideas, scenarios, dumb af reasonings, and everything in between. They left me kind of confused and made me question things…

Why? Why does everyone think so differently about Pi's value? With all the previous coin launch histories and value formation, shouldn't valuing Pi be simple? What is the correct calculation? What is the most likely scenario?

In the quest for knowledge, I seek the answers… however, just like you and everyone else, I don't have a crystal ball to see the future and give you the exact outcome.

Instead, allow me to dissect 2 of the main questions today, and come up with some conclusions for you. The 3rd question is about Pi's future value. will come next Sunday, because it deserves its own article alone.

Let's start with the easiest one!

1. How much is Pi worth?

Note: Price and value are different things. Keep this in mind.

Some time ago, the official FAQ stated: "Pi's value is 0". That was before the mainnet migrations began around a year ago. Since then, the whole segment is removed from the FAQ.

Today, if you visit Coinmarketcap to check the price of Pi, it has a chart and a current valuation that tracks "Pi".

However, no real Pi can be traded on exchanges as those connections are blocked by a firewall. The chart you see there track Pi IOUs, which are most certainly not real Pi and definitely do not reflect or emulate real Pi trading.

Additionally, Visionary and co-founder of Pi Network, Dr. Nikolas Kokkalis, once stated "Pi's worth what the pioneers make it worth". Hmmm, okay, but there are people saying Pi's worth 0; there are people saying it's $314159; and there are countless people saying somewhere in between.

So… which one is it RIGHT NOW?

The truth right now is… it depends. Here's why:

Every pioneer has a different story and stats included. E.g. one person that mined 3000 Pi over 2 years and is not migrated to mainnet with some available balance, has a different idea than someone that some Pi, migrated to mainnet, and even traded for real goods and services. With every pioneer's situation being so different, people perceive the value of Pi very differently.

If you successfully completed the mainnet checklist, then, you will have migrated SOME of your balance to Pi mainnet and now have some Pi to spend on goods and services. However, due to only less than <10% of the Pi Network's total userbase being migrated over to #mainnet, little available balance for those users, the rule of "no Pi can be exchanged for fiat/crypto" AND Pi isn't traded globally on exchanges, people can only barter peer-to-peer with other people and a limited selection of community created decentralized applications.

All this creates different perspectives on what Pi's worth today. A whole lot would change if e.g. Pi was traded globally OR if migrated users would have MOST of their balances instead.

There are some who still cannot trade Pi, there are some who can but don't find good deals that they wanna trade their Pi for, there are some that actively buy, there are some that actively sell, there are some that have dApps that accept Pi, etc. All those people use different goggles to judge what Pi's worth today. If you are offering goods/services for Pi, you will value Pi lower; if you are buying, naturally, you want the best deal therefore say Pi's value right now is much more!

To add further fuel to the fire, when trading for goods and services for Pi, the valuation does vary from transaction to transaction. That's because there is no market value of Pi right now as it is not listed on any exchanges and can be traded globally. So instead, people barter with each other.

E.g. I could easily buy a lighter from pretty much anyone for a Pi valuation of $314159, since, pretty much have a lighter and the transaction's value is negligible. However, could I buy a house at that valuation? It's more or less impossible - even finding a seller would be a challenge - but if you do find someone to sell you a house for Pi, they are going to be asking for thousands or tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Pi.

So in short: Pi can be mined for free. There is no market value for Pi. Pi's price varies from transaction to transaction as people attach different valuations to Pi on each transaction. If you find a good deal or a trusted buyer/seller, that's when you come to see or negotiate Pi's price for the transaction. In order to make life easy for all of us, Pi would need a market price, and to get that, we need to reach the open mainnet phase when Pi can be listed on global exchanges worldwide.

Let's continue with:

2. What is the value of Pi?

I would argue "What is the value of Pi?" is a more complex topic than "What is the price of Pi?", so let's dig in!

Value is relative and subjective.

About value Being relative… let's say you live in a town: you could get some water for free from your tap in your home; ask your neighbor for some; go the old-fashioned way and go to a well; or even pay a very low price for some water in a supermarket and more. Who cares about water anyway when there are countless ways to access it near you, right? It's very low cost and very accessible. The value of water is therefore negligible since you can always have some.

Well, how about in the middle of the desert? Would you pay $10 for a bottle of water in the scorching desert? How about $100 for a glass of water after 1 day in the heat? What would you give for some water to survive?

Context changes valutions.

About value being subjective. Some things might seem objectively more valuable than other things. A higher-quality car, for example, can sell for more than a lower-quality car. But that precise value still depends on the individual buyers and how they subjectively interpret the value of that quality. Simply put, a Mercedes may be a higher quality automobile than some other brands, yet, not everybody who can afford a Mercedes buys one (or buys a similarly high-quality car). The higher quality is not worth that much more to them, even though it is to someone else.

These affect the valuation of Pi drastically, worldwide.

Instead of the good ol' fashioned way and going to work for X amount of hours for Y amount of money, you help secure and grow the Pi Network in different ways, in return for some Pi.

All actions you have taken to earn more Pi come from different resource investments - mostly time and creativity, but sometimes #money if you e.g. paying electricity to always run your computer for a node to run 24/7.

How would we value something that costs us time and creativity only? Unsurprisingly, very differently!

Human's most precious and ever-depleting resource is time.

It's what we all got that runs out eventually. We just don't know when, so - most - try to live life to the fullest in that window of time, before it's too late.

Some have built businesses and made a fortune, therefor their time is valuable, arguably much more valuable in terms of money vs someone that is a college student and just learning a profession.

At Pi Network, we have people from every corner of the world using a free mobile app to mine Pi differently and do different tasks to accumulate even more Pi.

My mum, who I invited to mine a week later after I started mining, has very different ideas about Pi's value than me, who has done a lot of ambassador work to grow my earning team. I invested a lot more of my resources and focused on increasing the passive Pi income aspect, whilst she chilled and focused on other things in life, whilst taking advantage of the Universal Basic Income UBI benefits of Pi.

We have very different Pi balances, earning teams, ideas, lives, situations, knowledge in the crypto space and etc. Our stories are totally different which affects our valuation of Pi. This is the same across all pioneers.

Keep this important fact in mind and accept the fact that everyone has different opinions on this topic. It's not as simple as 1+1=2.

Time plays a critical role too in the #calculations: it seems most of the pioneers value Pi more with time passing - but just for how long exactly? And how will investors value Pi when investing?

Open mainnet shall set the stage for the real price discovery to begin.

That'll be a new chapter & it is certainly NOT the end of the story in the Pi saga.

I'd say price-wise, we start low and go higher over time.

...but what do you think?

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Thanks for reading! :)  

credit @kozii