Pi Network Sets April 27 Protocol 22 Deadline for Nodes

Overview

• The Core Team set a Sunday, April 27 cutoff for all Mainnet nodes to run Protocol 22 or be automatically disconnected from the network.
• Node operators must install software version 0.5.4, with the team saying the upgrade takes under 15 minutes if traffic is redirected correctly to avoid a full resync.
• Protocol 22 is framed as a prerequisite for Protocol 23, which the project says is expected to bring full smart-contract functionality in May.
• Pi activated a subscription smart-contract feature on Testnet on April 17 and released PiRC2 on April 22 to open the design to technical review, enabling preapproved budgets for recurring on-chain charges without re-signing each payment.
• PI hovered near $0.17 this week as on-chain data showed roughly 3 million tokens moving to exchanges and nearly 200 million set to unlock over the next 30 days, raising short-term selling concerns despite the upgrade push and the project’s planned Consensus 2026 appearances.