The recent GameFi push and a strategic partnership with CiDi Games have reactivated interest in Pi Network, generating an increase in volume on unofficial markets. The sell wall —the accumulation of sell orders that halts price appreciation— appears in response to monetization expectations and a supply unlocking schedule.
The bet on GameFi —aimed at enabling payments and rewards in Pi within video games— has served as a catalyst for the community of “Pioneers” and for new actors in speculative markets. The announcement once again places Pi Network at the center of the Web3 ecosystem just as the GameFi sector shows medium‑term growth projections.
The community accumulated over years now seeks a path to convert value: millions of users who have mined Pi consider the moment appropriate to make sales on IOU markets (platforms where unofficial representations of the token are exchanged). IOU markets are exchanges where tokens that do not have an official listing nor regulatory backing are traded and that operate largely by speculative supply and demand.
Among the markets cited are OKX, Gate.io, MEXC and Bybit, which provide the liquidity necessary to execute large‑volume sales. The scale of the user base —more than 47 million Pioneers reported in 2024— and the expectation of monetizing an accumulated effort explain why many choose to place sell orders now. That selling pressure creates the observed phenomenon: a concentration of orders that acts as a barrier to sustained rises, what traders call a sell wall.
Future supply, trust and effect on liquidity
The supply schedule is an additional driver of anticipatory selling. The unlocks scheduled for Q2 2025 intensify the incentive to liquidate positions before possible price dilution. A sell wall can also form from massive transfers to exchange balances, which are visible signals of intent to sell rather than to hold.
Added to this is an environment of fragile trust: criticism about the project’s legitimacy, limited on‑chain activity and reports about concentrations of control in mainnet validators by the central team in 2025, all of which feed skepticism. Rumors of internal sales and warnings against “illegal” sales contribute to the climate of caution. In this context, prices traded on IOU markets reflect speculative dynamics more than a definitive valuation for when there is an official and regulated market.
The sell wall that accompanies Pi Network’s GameFi push does not contradict interest in its potential utility; it explains it. Until there is an open mainnet with transparent liquidity and clear regulatory frameworks, the selling pressure derived from expectations of unlocks and the search for monetization will continue to determine price dynamics on unofficial markets.
