Overview
- At Consensus 2026 in Miami, Dr. Chengdiao Fan spoke Wednesday and Nicolas Kokkalis joined a Thursday panel to spotlight Protocol 23, which Pi says activates May 11.
- The upgrade adds full smart-contract support, turning Pi into a programmable chain where apps, exchanges, and tokenized assets can run; smart contracts are programs that enforce rules on the blockchain.
- Fan argued that verified human identity is Pi’s edge in the AI era, pointing to about 18 million KYC-verified users.
- Company materials cite more than 526 million KYC validation tasks and about 421,000 active Mainnet nodes, and Pi sponsored the conference to attract developers and partners.
- PI rose more than 5% on April 29 after both founders were confirmed as speakers, and the team says Protocol 23 should open the door to real on-chain services that users can try without exposing personal data.