Pi Network has just released Pi Node version 0.5.4, bringing performance improvements, more accurate reward calculations, and upgraded user experience.
Despite the technical progress, the project’s ecosystem continues to face challenges. Mainnet activity remains low, developer confidence is low, and Pi Coin’s price continues to be under pressure, falling nearly 10% over the past week.
Pi Network Introduces New Technical Upgrades
The Pi Core Team announced the release of Pi Node 0.5.4 on November 6. The app has also been renamed “Pi Desktop” to reflect its broader range of functionality. Users can now access the Node, mining app, and Pi App Studio through a unified interface.
The update brings several important improvements, including fixes for Node mining rewards, automatic updates, and a Block container creation bug. The project also introduced an open gate verification system to ensure more accurate Node bonus calculations.
Additionally, Pi Desktop now allows the use of approved external links, allowing users to directly access blogs and resources from the mining app and Pi App Studio. These improvements contribute to improved performance and overall experience for Node operators.
The development team writes:
“As announced in a recent update, Pi App Studio can now be accessed directly from the navigation bar on Pi Desktop, located next to the Pi Mining and Node apps. A display bug in App Studio where deployed apps did not display previews properly has also been fixed.”
This update builds on the OpenMind pilot project – a demonstration of Pi Network’s decentralized AI training capabilities. OpenMind says there are over 350,000 active nodes participating in the pilot, completing image recognition tasks.
Furthermore, this is also Pi Network Ventures' first investment, marking an important move towards practical blockchain applications.
Pi Network faces a lot of pressure
However, these advances contrast with the project's on- chain status. Despite OpenMind's high participation, data from PiScan shows that there are currently only 296 active mainnet nodes and 3 validators.
In addition, many developers also expressed dissatisfaction. The incident erupted after WorkforcePool – the winner of Pi Network’s first Hackathon and a decentralized freelance marketplace – announced that the project was for sale. This caused controversy as developers said that the project had high operating costs, lack of team support, and slow development speed.
Pi Network launched its Open Network in February with the goal of increasing accessibility and supporting dApp development. However, the app development speed and mainnet migration progress have been disappointing, leading to dissatisfaction in the community.
Finally, the price action was not very positive. After the initial fever cooled down, Pi Coin continued to show weakness. Although PI had a slight increase in late October, it quickly fell back down soon after.
BeInCrypto market data shows that Pi Coin has fallen by around 10% over the past week under general market pressure. At the time of writing, the Token is trading around $0.22, down 0.168% in the last 24 hours.
