What to Know
- AI now powers Pi’s Standard KYC, cutting review queues by 50% and speeding up migration.
- Validator rewards are targeted for Q1 2026, with massive data analysis underway.
- 17.5M users passed KYC and 15.7M migrated, marking major progress despite ongoing price pressure.
Pi Network has shared a major update on its KYC validator rewards, confirming that the first round of payments is expected to roll out by the end of Q1 2026. The Pi Team continues upgrading its KYC system with new AI technology, speeding up user verification and helping more Pioneers move to Mainnet.
AI Makes KYC Faster
Pi’s Standard KYC system which allows users to complete verification and migrate to Mainnet has now been improved with additional AI tools. These tools are based on the same technology used in Pi Fast Track KYC.
Thanks to this integration, the Standard KYC process is now faster, more scalable, and more accurate. The Pi Core Team says the AI cuts the queue of applications waiting for human review by 50%, reducing bottlenecks and helping more people complete KYC successfully.
Pi Fast Track KYC, which was introduced months ago for new users and non-Pioneers, has also played an important role. While Fast Track KYC itself does not enable Mainnet migration, the technology behind it has now been merged with Standard KYC to improve speed and consistency.
The new AI system also brings several benefits:
- It solves validator shortages in certain countries.
- It helps more Pioneers get unblocked and move toward migration.
- It reduces the total human work required while still keeping humans in the loop for final checks.
- It hides more personal data from validators, protecting user privacy.
AI reviews are intentionally conservative. This means the system does not automatically approve borderline cases. Anything unclear goes to human validators, making the process safer and more reliable.
Although AI now handles part of the verification, validators still have plenty of work. The human workload saved through AI can now be redirected to new opportunities in the Pi ecosystem, especially in areas supporting AI training, app utilities, and other community needs.
Progress on Validator Rewards
The Pi Core Team also confirmed progress toward distributing validator rewards. This first reward cycle has taken time because of the huge amount of data involved.
Since 2021, validators have completed hundreds of millions of KYC tasks. Pi team is focusing on designing a fair reward system that ensures the system can send rewards to millions of validators and protect accuracy and security when distributing rewards on Mainnet. The team says the distribution system is still under development, but progress is strong and on track for deployment by the end of Q1 2026.
Pi also shared new network stats, 17.5 million Pioneers have fully passed KYC and 15.7 million have completed migration to Mainnet. Around 3 million “Tentatively KYC’d” Pioneers can unblock themselves by completing simple liveness checks. The team encourages users to complete this step quickly to avoid delays.
PI Price Action
PI is currently facing selling pressure. In the last 24 hours, the price fell 2% to $0.219, underperforming Bitcoin and the broader crypto market. A $10 million lawsuit claims Pi misrepresented parts of its project. While unproven, it has created uncertainty among traders.
Additionally, about 183 million PI tokens are set to unlock over the next 30 days. The record day is expected to be December 20, when almost 8 million PI will be freed up. The average daily unlocks for the following month are estimated to be approximately 6.1 million.
As for technicals, PI is trading below key support zones. PI broke below its 200-day SMA ($0.378) in November and now tests Fibonacci support at $0.226. The MACD histogram (-0.00278) and RSI 33 suggest bearish momentum isn’t exhausted. A drop below $0.226 may open doors to the $0.20 level.
Conclusion
Pi Network is making clear progress on improving KYC and preparing validator rewards. The integration of advanced AI tools has already helped millions of users move forward. While price pressure remains due to legal issues and token unlocks, the project is focused on long-term building.
With validator rewards targeted for Q1 2026, AI-powered scaling, and millions of verified users, the next year will be an important phase for Pi’s ecosystem growth.
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