Introducing Pi (and the blockchain)
I remember the day like it was yesterday. One sunny afternoon in the early summer of 2019., a friend of mine who was working at Yale University as an assistant sent me a message, saying: „You don’t want to miss this train!“ It also contained a link to a website. He knew I’ve always been open-minded person and that I would check it out right away. I’ve been watching cryptocurrency space since its early days, so I’ve always had a feeling this is the path the world will take and not just in financial industry, but in healthcare, economics, agriculture, real estates… you name it. Blockchain technology and the idea of decentralisation was taking the world by storm and since I’ve always been addicted to the IT sector for as long as I can remember, it was only natural to me that those kind of movements caught my eye.
Most of you here are probably already thinking the same, otherwise you probably woudn’t snoop on this blog to check it out in the first place. I gotta tell you right away that this won’t be a light read, nor a too short one, but sending a message is not an easy task to do since many things need to be said. Hope you will endure till the end. Ironically, your independent future may depend on it.
Unfortunately, as of today, almost all of us are slaves of the system. To break free, you have to be faster then the system, just as an airplane breaks through the sound wall when it is travelling faster than a sound.
My deceased godfather, whom I loved and respected very much, was a mechanical engineer working in aeronautical industry for almost thirty years, not to mention one of the smartest people I knew. I remember how once when I was a kid, he explained and even sketched a process of an airplane breaking through that sound wall on a piece of paper to me. That story had a profound impact on my life. It helped me realise, that in order to break the chains of circumstances that other people around inflict on us, it is imperative for a person to be ahead of the curve.
When Bitcoin came along during the great financial crisis of 2008., it had this novel idea to put financial freedom and responsibility in the hands of ordinary people. But the problem back then was that technology, and more importantly, the people, weren’t ready. As with every new industrial shift, at least a decade needs to pass for it to achieve its identity, the world to realise it’s potential and technology to mature enough to be able to scale globally without unnecessary impact on our enviroment.
In the case of Bitcoin and all the other altcoins that came afterwards, although the idea behind them was to empower people financially, greed and pyramidal structure of their access made them only empower a few, which to me, only digitalised the current and outdated financial system we have today. Not to mention breaking their very goal of decentralisation they allegedly stood for. My thoughts were: „This can’t be it!? We can do and we need to do better!“
The time has come for this industry to finally tick all those boxes I’ve mentioned earlier. Thankfully my prayers were answered when I opened that link my colleague sent me.
Enter – Pi
Pi Network was developed by a trio of doctors from Stanford University. All of them are ordinary people like you and me, specializing in their respective areas of work, with this crazy idea to change the world for the better. They have the knowledge, resources and will to act to bring cryptocurrency back to the noble goal where it belongs – to empower everyday people, so their time, work and skills are valued fairly and for them to be able to maximise that value to be able to live a decent life. This time around, a technology to achieve it is ready for prime time. Aside for Pi(π) being a universally accepted mathematical sign which breaks all language and national barriers for a truly global reach, the technology behind it enables a fast, reliable, thrustworthy and securly robust ecosystem of value transfer for the whole planet to tap into, governed by the same individuals who are a part of that community. Stellar Concensus Protocol is the name of the game. It has been developed and well documented since 2014. by much respected professor Mazières of Stanford University. I don’t want to get into technical details right away, as there are many materials that can be found online, not to mention it is already a part of the nicely written and easy to understand whitepaper located inside a smartphone app, which is available to download from the official Google’s and Apple’s app stores (link available at the top and the bottom of this blog).
So how do these unsung heroes from Stanford want to establish Pi as the global currency for the whole world to appreciate? After all, we have to remember that we are living in a socially and economically diverse world. A large part of the population are unbanked and therefore are not part of the existing financial system. It also means that they are unable to tap into value of their own hard work and at the same time are unable to market their skills and qualifications to catch even a part of that value in existing circumstances. So how do they do that? Well, by giving it out for free. But when you get something for free it doesn’t mean it itself hasn’t got any value. That’s why I wouldn’t call it free, I would call it – a gift.
Pi – A gift to the society
When you are establishing a new ecosystem of value, the most important thing is a vehicle through which you are planning to distribute value, as that vehicle will determine the reach and accessibility for people to get into it in the first place. The problem with all the other cryptocurrencies which came before Pi was that their accessibility was reserved only for those with computer knowledge, access to required hardware and a starting fiat capital for acquiring initial batch of desired currency. All of those things severely damaged the demographic output of those assets, making it nearly impossible to achieve their desired utility. And of course, making them financially centralised in the process. But those clever doctors from Stanford found a new vehicle for an effective global distribution.
Our smartphones.
Mobile phone industry matured so much, that as of today, there are more smartphones in the world than there are personal computers. People of all ages, social and educational standards are using them and are becoming more and more familiar with them especially with the advent of social networking, when we are more connected than ever. By making a simple smartphone app, where user enters once a day to tap one button and continue to acquire said gift, you now have the widest demographic spectrum of users entering the ecosystem. And I’ve witnessed that first hand numerous times. That is why, my mother for instance, who is in her 60s, doesn’t know what a blockchain is, but she is acquiring Pi and she appreciates it because it is so easy for her to have access to it. At the same time she is valuing it, because in today’s fast paced world, she is taking her time for Pi.
And time is money!
But it gets even better. The gift becomes much more valuable when you get it from someone you know and care about. That is why Pi’s distribution is coming from the members within the community, who themselves are spreading it among their friends and families, just as my colleague and friend told me, and just as I told my mom. On the other hand, distribution is one thing, but what about utility?
Marketplaces – Future backbone of Internet of value
The secret ingredients in this sauce are marketplaces.
Back in the day, when Bitcoin started, it found it’s first real use case on probably the first marketplace of its kind, often forgotten not just among some younger members of the crypto community – The Silk Road. It was pretty groundbreaking back then, but unfortunately, illegal things that were being sold on it and its reliance on a dark web activity soon deteriorated its public image and put even Bitcoin on a bad reputation among retail customers that lasted for quite some time. To me, those activities, as well as the great Mt. Gox fiasco, have decelerated this industry advacement for the fear and lack of retail enthusiasm – meaning common folks. But nevertheless, the world was still in a need for a decentralised marketplaces. This is where Pi kicks in! Only this time on a legal and transparent manner. The project is currently in phase 2 of three phases. This one is the most crucial for me and so far all is going well. This phase is also called a testnet phase, for ground is being layed to achieve unified value of Pi across the globe, backed by decentralisation of the ledger which is achieved by allowing everyday people to run nodes and validate transactions happening on it. By implementing specific marketplaces inside and outside of the main app, Pi’s value will be leveraged to a new highs since it is finding a true utility as a mean of exchange for all the goods and services on offer.
Cashless society on speed dial
The unfortunate events of COVID-19 disease only accelerated the turn into a contactless and cashless society, leaving Pi as one of the sole answers to the need for truly globally accepted and liquid currency and as a paradigm shift in the world’s economy. Future is in a micro economics and currencies like Pi will enable people to more efficiently capture value for their time, attention, knowledge and skills. That is probably the reason Pi Network is spreading like wildfire ever since I got in myself. When you find out about something from the people you know and trust, when you tell that to people that know and trust you, when they see the goal behind the project, you find yourself building and being a part of the most trustworthy community in the world. And who wouldn’t want to be a part of that. When you have that, when you have a great team at Stanford steering this ship in the right direction, all the other pieces of the puzzle will fall into their place. Time and patience is all it takes.
I hope, dear reader, you will give this thing a try, read the whitepaper, realise the truth and spread this wonderful news. And I will do my best to keep you in the loop and help you understand.
And don’t forget that you are frequently tapping on your phone for everyone else. Tap this button once a day for yourself.
Yours sincerely,
Natko