Pi Network Protocol 25 Upgrade Reaches June 18 Deadline; Non-Compliant Nodes Face Mainnet Disconnection

According to the Pi Core Team, Pi Network's Protocol 25 upgrade carries a hard deadline of June 18, 2026, and node operators who fail to update by then risk being disconnected from the mainnet entirely. The mandatory software update has been pushed through in-app notifications since early June. Non-compliant nodes will become incompatible with the post-upgrade consensus mechanism and will be dropped from the network, unable to validate transactions or earn rewards.

The upgrade integrates Soroban, Stellar's smart contract platform, enabling developers to deploy decentralized applications directly on Pi. Protocol 25 also aligns Pi Network with Stellar Core V20 standards, bringing closer interoperability with the Stellar ecosystem and improving transaction throughput. For the network's 35 million KYC-verified users, smart contract capability marks a shift from a pure ledger to a programmable blockchain, potentially enabling DeFi protocols and NFT marketplaces.