Pi Network Rich List: 22 Whales Wallets hold over 10 million Pi coins each, wealth is highly concentrated.

Despite Pi Network long branding itself as a "people's crypto assets" that anyone can mine with a smartphone without expensive hardware, the latest data from PiScan shows a completely different ownership pattern: it has seemingly become a network where wealth is highly concentrated in the hands of a few. The data shows that only 22 wallets meet the "whale" standard, with each wallet holding over 10 million Pi coin, valued at over 3.5 million dollars, while millions of small accounts hold only a tiny fraction of the crypto assets, highlighting the astonishing imbalance in its distribution.

Pi Network Rich List: Overview of Top Wallets

According to CCN, based on data from PiScan, the wealth ranking of Pi Network reveals the dominance of wallets controlled by the foundation and "Whale" wallets. Pi Foundation 1 leads with an astonishing 52.2 billion Pi coins, valued at over 18.6 billion USD. This single wallet accounts for nearly 481% of the total supply, indicating that the massive reserves controlled by the foundation dominate the entire ecosystem. Pi Foundation 14 and Pi Foundation 3 hold 9.5 billion and 4.6 billion Pi coins, respectively, worth billions of dollars. Other major wallets include a liquidity reserve account (974 million Pi) and accounts related to exchanges, such as Gate. The dominance of foundation wallets raises questions about decentralization and whether Pi is truly a community-driven project.

Wealth Distribution: Whales and "Microorganisms"

In addition to the top 10 Wallets, PiScan also categorizes accounts from Whales to "microbes", showing how uneven ownership is:

(Pi account statistics – balance distribution | Source: PiScan)

• Whale (10 million+ Pi): 22 wallets, each holding at least 3.56 million USD worth of Pi.
• Shark (1 million - 10 million coins): 9,986 accounts, each worth up to 3.5 million dollars.
• Dolphins (100,000 - 1,000,000 coins): 358 accounts, each worth up to $356,400.
• Tuna (10,000-100,000 Pi): 6,495 Wallets, each worth up to $35,640.
• Fish (1,000-10,000 coins): 224,793 accounts, holding value between 356 to 3,564 USD.
• Shrimp (100-1 thousand Pi): 1,027,221 Wallets, valued between 36 and 356 dollars.
• Plankton (10-100 coins): 1,183,979 accounts hold values between 4 and 36 dollars.
• Microorganisms (0-10 coins): 13.4 million accounts, each account worth less than 4 dollars.
• Data shows that although there are more than 15.9 million Pi accounts, the vast majority of accounts hold only a small balance, with 84% of all accounts classified as "microbes."

Why is the ownership concentration of Pi Network important?

Centralized Risk: One of the core principles of crypto assets is decentralization. However, in the case of Pi, a few wallets, mostly controlled by the Pi Foundation, dominate the supply. This raises concerns about whether Pi is more like a centrally managed token rather than a decentralized currency.

Market Manipulation Concerns: When a Whale holds too large a proportion of the supply, they can significantly impact market behavior. A sudden sell-off from a single Whale Wallet can lead to a price plummet, putting small holders at risk.

Community Awareness: The marketing of Pi Network has always emphasized inclusivity, meaning anyone can mine Pi using their mobile phones. However, the rich list shows that despite millions of miners, a small elite controls most of the wealth, which undermines its promotional narrative.

Speculations About Pi Whale

With the Pi Network's rich list revealing that 22 "Whale" Wallets each hold over 10 million Pi, with the token value of each Wallet reaching millions of dollars, the community's attention naturally turns to who these major holders might be and what their motivations are. Recent on-chain analysis and news reports have provided some clues, although their exact identities have not been confirmed.

The following are some major theories and observations:

Key Whale Activity: A wallet named GAS…ODM has become a particularly aggressive accumulator. In the past few months, this address has acquired 331 million Pi coins, with a holding value of approximately 148 million USD. Meanwhile, this accumulation even occurred as the Pi price sharply declined (70%) from its peak in May 2025, indicating that this buyer is not acting on a short-term or purely speculative basis, but is likely operating on a longer timeline.

Who could these whales be? Although there is no official confirmation of the owners of these large wallets, several plausible theories have emerged in the community and crypto analysis reports.

Pi Core Team/Infrastructure Holders: The Wallet may be related to the Pi development team. It may be used for buybacks or to stabilize supply. A large transfer (over 550 million Pi) was observed from the foundation wallet in 2025.

Major Exchanges/Pre-listing Accumulation: Whales may be building up inventories for listings at exchanges. Transfers of millions of Pi have been observed from exchanges like Gate.

Long-term investors/Strategic holders: Some Whales may be wealthy individuals or funds. They accumulate during price dips rather than at peaks. This indicates their long-term belief in the growth and future adoption of Pi.

What is Pi Network?

Pi Network was launched in 2018 by Stanford University graduates Nikkolas Kokkalis and Chengdiao Fan, aimed at making crypto asset mining accessible to the public. Unlike Bitcoin, which requires energy-intensive mining equipment, Pi coin can be mined through a mobile application. The vision of Pi goes beyond mining. The team is committed to building an ecosystem of applications, services, and payment solutions powered by Pi. They have launched the following features:

Pi Advertising Network: For app monetization.

Pi Application Studio: Helping developers launch applications.

Pi AI Studio: Focused on AI-driven applications.

KYC verification: Allows transfer from closed mainnet to open network.

Despite these ambitious goals, Pi Network has still been criticized as a "ghost chain" with limited adoption and a lack of real-world utility. To date, no mainstream companies accept Pi as a payment method, and much of its ecosystem remains underdeveloped.

The Future of Pi Network: Will the Promises Be Fulfilled?

Despite criticism, Pi still has millions of active miners worldwide. Its eventual listing on major exchanges may reignite interest, especially if Whales decide to hold rather than sell. However, the future of Pi depends on:

• Establishing real utility: applications, payments, and partnerships.
• Improve transparency: Report the foundation's reserves more clearly.
• Decentralized supply: Reduce the dominance of whales over time.

If Pi fails to address these challenges, despite having a large user base, it still has the potential to become a "ghost chain."

Conclusion

Despite Pi Network flying the flag of "people's crypto assets" and attracting millions of users globally to participate in mining through mobile devices, its on-chain data reveals a highly centralized distribution of wealth. The wallets controlled by the foundation and a few whale addresses dominate the vast majority of the supply, which stands in sharp contrast to the core principle of decentralization in crypto assets.

The future of Pi Network depends on whether it can truly deliver on its promises: will it continue as a "ghost chain" controlled by a few entities and lacking real effects, or will it move towards true decentralization by establishing real ecological applications, increasing transparency, and gradually decentralizing token distribution? If the issues of ownership concentration and practicality cannot be resolved, even with a large user base, Pi may struggle to escape skepticism and ultimately become an idealistic slogan rather than a revolutionary financial practice. Its fate is not only related to technology or the market but also to trust and fairness—which is precisely what was pursued at the very beginning of crypto assets.