Three Stanford PhDs have developed an easy access-for-all blockchain cryptocurrency, that you can mine on your mobile phone. You're here at the right time, this is just the beginning...

Let me walk you through what this is all about?

Contents of this article:

• What is Blockchain?
• How is it immutable?
• What is the use of it?
• Pi Coin - The Pi Network
• How to install Pi Network
• 4 facts about the Pi Network

What is Blockchain?

A blockchain is a decentralized storage of any form of data, that is immutable. New data is added to the chain frequently by the users of this network. The data is stored in the form of blocks, where each block is linked to a previous block through a cryptographic hash, timestamp and the data.

How is it immutable?

Can't someone just delete a block in the blockchain, and poof! remove it or modify it? Yes they can. But wait, listen to the complete story.

The Blockchain is distributed, in the sense, the same copy of the blockchain is copied to each and every user of the network. So, if a person has to delete a record in the entire blockchain, they he/she has to attack more than 50% of the users who are a part of the blockchain, all at the same time! Getting it?

Ex: If there are 10 users. If I want to hack and remove a block or modify it in the blockchain, I will have to hack any 6 users at the same time, delete the block, so that the remaining network will think that it has faulty blocks, and will copy itself from the other 6 users.
But this is not computationally easy. So, the security of any blockchain network increases with an increase in the number of users.

This is one of the reasons why we can find many networks initially trying to gather users and having Test phases.

What is the use of it?

What is the use of being a part of the blockchain?

1. Every network has it's own purpose out there. These networks reward their users with their own Coins. You would have heard about BitCoins, Ethereum, XRP and a lot others.
2. These coins are used to purchase services in the marketplace, for transactions between two entities and also can be traded for currency.
3. Once a data is stored in the blockchain, it can never be erased, so this can be used to store transactional data, important documents and more.

This is the Price change chart that I shot from the CoinDesk website. You can see the price of the cryptocurrency starts low and fluctuates. So, it may increase or decrease.

Pi Coin - The Pi Network

As the world becomes increasingly digital, cryptocurrency is a next natural step in the evolution of money. Pi is the first digital currency for everyday people, representing a major step forward in the adoption of cryptocurrency worldwide. - Pi Network

Founded by Stanford Ph.D., Dr. Nicolas Kokkalis, Dr. Chengdiao Fan, Vincent McPhillip. Pi Network now let's users mine pi coins on their phone without the battery being drained. What actually is happening is, your mining is being simulated for now on their servers, so you need not have your phones opened or even have the app run in the background. All you need to do is to open the Pi Network application once everyday, and hit the mine button.

The 3 phases of the Pi Network

Phase 1: Design, Distribution, Trust Graph Bootstrap.

• Pi Server will emulate the behaviour of the decentralized system
• Pi will not be listed on exchanges during this phase and it is not able to buy or sell Pi.
• All the coins of the users will be migrated to the live net once it launches.

Phase 2: Testnet

• The Node software will be deployed on the test net.
• Users will be able to download their own Nodes.
• The network is getting ready towards the Mainnet

Phase 3: Mainnet

• When the community feels the software is ready for the production, and it has been tested on the Test Net, the official mainnet of the Pi Network will be launched.
• The Phase 1 emulator will be shut down, and the system will run on its own.
• The coins will be transferred to the manner, and duplicate/fake accounts will be removed.

As of June 14, 2020 the Pi Network is in Phase 2.

How to install Pi Network and be a part of it?

Step 1: https://minepi.com/tharunshiv Go to this link and click on Download, to download the Pi Network App.

Step 2: Register using Facebook or Mobile number and set your password.

Step 3: It is an invite only join to the network. So use the invite code: tharunshiv

Step 4: Click on the mine icon on the right everyday, to continue mining. Invite more people to increase your mining rate.

4 facts about the Pi Network

1. It uses an incredibly complicated consensus algorithm known as Stellar Consensus Algorithm
2. It is created by members of the "Stanford Blockchain collective"
3. The main creator teaches a class called "Blockchain App Design" and was likely a student of Stanford Professor David Mazieres, the creator of the Stellar Consensus Protocol.
4. You can disable ads on the app by going to your Profile.

Source: SubReddit. @Giant2005 @MaikMerra

Your thoughts on Pi Network?

What are your thoughts on the Pi Network? Do you think it is a scam? I am a very new user of this network, so this is all of what I have researched about it. Feel free to put forward your points about this in the discussions below.

I am no where associated or sponsored by the Pi Network. I am just trying to spread the word and get your perspective on it. Do your research before taking any huge steps.

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Written by,

Tharun ShivFollow

Site Reliability Engineer | Blogger | Podcasts | Youtube @ developertharun

Thank you for reading, This is Tharun Shiv a.k.a Developer Tharun