Pi Network Confirms Progress on KYC Validator Rewards Distribution

• Pi Network has announced that the KYC validator rewards system is under testing and expects the release to be before the end of Q1.
• The current testing phase is evaluating validators who conducted identity checks for millions of users on their Pi payouts.

Pi Network has announced progress with the development of the distribution system for Know Your Customer (KYC) validator rewards, in line with the team’s projected timeline. The team says it has completed the system design and that all the implementation has been done.

The current work focuses on testing, which is a step that the team indicated is required to make sure that Pi payments are accurate to the validators who helped verify identities on the network.

The testing is vital since the reward system needs to handle the payouts on the basis of the KYC work done on millions of participants. The core team stated that validation and performance checks are underway to confirm that reward calculations and transfers function as intended. Deployment is still targeted for the end of the current quarter, with March 2026 as the expected launch date.

This update comes after recent technical changes, which have expanded access to the mainnet. The network recently revealed that in some areas, approximately 2.5 million users were unblocked to migrate to the mainnet after undergoing necessary procedures, with over 700,000 other accounts anticipated to have access to KYC submissions. The total number of migrated mainnet users now stands at around 16 million,

Pi Network KYC Rewards Testing and Market Attention

In a post on X, the Pi Core Team stated that the KYC validator rewards system is now in testing and reiterated that the goal remains deployment before the end of March 2026. The team further stated that the system will compensate the validators based on time spent on identity checks for consistency and equity as mainnet activity grows.

In recent days, chatter in the Pi community has revolved around screenshots of Pi Network being listed by Kraken.

The images placed Pi among other digital assets under consideration, prompting speculation about a potential spot listing. Kraken has not confirmed any such listing, and the exchange has stated that roadmap references do not guarantee future support. Kraken currently offers PI perpetual futures, which operate separately from spot markets.

Pi Network has also recently confirmed the activation of the Stellar Protocol v25 upgrade on its mainnet. The update came with a more advanced X-ray privacy architecture and expanded zero-knowledge proof workflows. The project has also initiated the beta testing of palm print authentication in its KYC process and removed some regional compliance requirements to enable more users to continue with the verification.

Despite the updates, the PI coin price has seen a downturn following the entire crypto market crash. At press time, the PI price was trading at $0.1432, an 8.32% decline.