What is KYC Pi Network?

KYC Pi Network or “Know Your Customer” is a procedure to first identify and then verify Pioneer identities, to comply with regulations and to ensure that Pioneers within the global Pi Ecosystem are real individuals.

The vision of Pi Network is to build an inclusive and the most widely-distributed digital currency and ecosystem for all Pioneers. Pi Network’s mining mechanism is social-network based and relies on contributions of real Pioneers. Therefore, Pi has a strict policy of one account per person.

This requires a high degree of accuracy to establish that members in the network are genuine human beings, preventing individuals from being able to hoard Pi by creating fake accounts unfairly. KYC Pi Network thus helps ensure the true humanness of the network.

Related: What is Pi Network? What is the value of 1 Pi Coin?

How does the KYC Pi Network solution work? 

Pi Network’s KYC solution is being built through our Pi App Engine as an ecosystem app. Keep in mind that this solution attempts to address accuracy and privacy, while achieving scalability for millions of KYC Pi Network, wide coverage of diverse populations, and accessibility.

Our KYC solution itself combines machine automation and human verification in order to accomplish accurate and efficient KYC Pi Network for everyone. Machine automation will be responsible for processing, analyzing, and obfuscating Pioneer information. KYC’ed human Validators may then have to check certain parts of the obfuscated information and submitted documents. The importance of having and improving the machine automation component are threefold: 1) scalability to KYC millions of Pioneers, 2) reducing the data exposure to human Validators to better protect Pioneers’ privacy and 3) catching the maximum number of fraudulent applications.

Specifically to protect individual Pioneers’ privacy, personal data—except for data the machine failed to read—will be properly redacted. Human Validator will be previously KYC’ed Pioneers who opt in to work as a crowdworker in the KYC app to verify redacted ID documents and selfie images to help ensure that the information is correct.

Human Validators are randomly selected from a pool of crowd workers from the same country of the ID document provided. Before verifying real Pioneers, they must first agree with the Validator Service Agreement of the app and then go through a tutorial to train their verification skills. Since these Validators’ work is constantly cross-validated to prevent bad actors, providing consistently inaccurate verification will lead to their removal from the workforce pool.

Given that the Core Team has scaled the machine automation part as needed, the network KYC Pi Network progress now primarily depends on how many good human Validators there are in each local community to process the human verification step of the KYC solution.

As more Pioneers get KYC’ed, more human Validators are available to validate others. This way, the KYC Pi Network solution can support the widest variety of countries and regions ID types in the world, making Pi as accessible as possible.

What makes the KYC Pi Network Solution unique?

Most other projects outsource KYC to a third-party KYC provider because the process to verify lots of people from almost all the countries is an extremely difficult problem. However, every third-party KYC provider charges a fee for each KYC check. To allow Pioneers the opportunity to participate in the Pi Mainnet regardless of financial barriers, Pi Network has designed and built its own KYC app to provide KYC checks that are free of out-of-pocket charge for all Pioneers, and cost 1 Pi each to compensate human Validators for their work. This is part of our continued efforts in striving for inclusivity.

Furthermore, given the millions of Pioneers in over 230 countries and regions and the scale of KYC checks needed, it is impossible to outsource the process to any third-party in the first place, because no other KYC solution in the market provided KYC services in almost all countries and regions in the world as widely distributed as the Pioneers. Hence, we innovated this native solution that can scale the KYC process in both volume and diversity of identity by leveraging machine automation and the crowd power of Pi’s distributed global community—Pi Network’s ultimate strength.

Lastly, KYC Pi Network also helps create true utility of Pi itself in the Pi ecosystem. It is a perfect representation of how the entire Pi ecosystem works—a native, decentralized community where labor is exchanged and real utility is created, for the Pi cryptocurrency with no fiat involved.

KYC Pi Network next steps

The majority of the network was enabled to apply for KYC in June 2022. Most recently, Pi opened up KYC applications to all! This was partially achieved by a Tentative KYC program which allows newly KYC-enabled accounts to be able to apply to KYC and undergo additional verification checks when needed. Only after they have submitted the necessary documents, passed reviews by Validators, and passed any additional checks, do they attain the “passed” status. Such additional checks will combine the newly submitted information to further verify their identity. The Tentative KYC program gives accounts with more complex properties a chance to proceed with KYC and provide proof of their identities as real humans, while exercising caution in granting “passed” status.

The reason for such an eligibility rollout to KYC and the selective Tentative KYC program is to ensure the integrity of the network—cautiously allowing as many real human Pioneers as possible to pass KYC, while catching and preventing as many fake and bot accounts as possible. Not only is this important for the network, but it’s also fair for all human Pioneers who have been honestly mining in their own accounts.

The design of the KYC Pi Network is a revolutionary decentralized and scalable KYC solution while maintaining privacy, accuracy, scalability, wide coverage of diverse populations, and accessibility. It has helped verify millions of Pioneers and enable them to migrate to the Pi Mainnet blockchain and participate in the Mainnet ecosystem. When the Pi KYC solution successfully verifies the identity of the majority or all of the millions of Pioneers, the Pi KYC along with the community’s decentralized efforts will enable Pi Network to be the largest KYC’ed and crypto-enabled social network, getting the world ready for easy development and deployments of future innovative services involving finance, economics and ownership, thus further advancing it towards the Web3 era.

Be sure to fill out your KYC application now, and participate in this historic undertaking by becoming a Validator.

FAQs about KYC Pi Network

1. Do you still need to get a KYC slot randomly assigned by the system?

No, anyone except the two scenarios below should be able to visit the KYC app via Pi Browser and start your KYC application without waiting for an invitation. The invitation-based KYC slots assignment was only used in the past, and the process has been updated to allow anyone to start.

Newly created accounts will not be able to immediately apply for KYC verification, until after mining for 30 days (no need to be consecutive). This helps the network prioritize KYC validation resources for more committed human Pioneers who also have mined enough balance to make sense to go through KYC and migrate to Mainnet.

A very small proportion of accounts, identified by the algorithms as highly likely fake accounts or accounts that have violations, will not be eligible to KYC. If such account owners think that there is a mistake by the algorithms, they should submit their username for further investigation and potential proof of otherwise by filling in this form here: https://minepi.com/kyc-application-access. Depending on what we receive, we can investigate further.

2. When a KYC slot is opened up for you, will you still get the “KYC slot” popup notification when you start a new mining session?

The KYC popup notification should not be used as the only means by which Pioneers know whether they are eligible to start KYC application or not, although they will likely get a “KYC slot” popup. Pioneers should directly check their KYC eligibility on the KYC app in the Pi Browser (KYC.PI). You can simply open the Pi Browser and navigate to the KYC application. Please use the popup notification as a reminder rather than an invitation.

3. Now that Pi KYC is open for all, how can I apply for KYC?

Downloading the Pi Browser is required to apply for KYC. You can access KYC through the Pi KYC app in the Pi Browser. Make sure to have your relevant identification documents ready!

Pioneers are encouraged to directly check your KYC eligibility on the KYC app in the Pi Browser.

4. KYC Tentative Approval: What does it mean? What is necessary to pass? How long will that take?

The Tentative KYC program, which does not apply to the majority of the network, requires additional verification checks before the Pioneer can fully pass KYC. Tentative KYC approval does not equal full KYC Pi Network approval, and thus will not yet unlock functionalities (e.g. becoming a Validator, or migrating to the Mainnet) requiring full KYC approval until the additional checks confirm its full KYC approval. However, tentative KYC approval gets the account much closer to full approval.

The reason for the selective Tentative KYC program is to ensure the integrity of the network—cautiously allowing as many real human Pioneers as possible to pass KYC Pi Network, while catching and preventing as many fake and bot accounts as possible. Not only is this important for the network, but it’s also fair for all human Pioneers who have been honestly mining in their own accounts.

The specific additional verification steps may vary depending on the individual case, and the time it takes to complete them can vary, as well. Factors that can impact the timing include the volume of KYC Pi Network applications being processed, availability of human validators of the region, complexity of the application, and types of additional checks applied to the tentative KYC Pi Network case.

5. When the KYC Pi Network status is “Tentative approval,” how long will it take for it to be final “KYC passed”?

The duration of the Tentative Approval status is on a case-by-case basis and depends on the extent and types of additional verifications needed. One of the priorities of Q2 2023 for the KYC app is to iterate and apply such additional checks on the tentative KYC Pi Network cases.

6. When KYC Pi Network status is “Tentative approval,” can migration to Mainnet happen? 

No, you need to fully pass the KYC Pi Network to be able to migrate to the Mainnet.

7. When KYC is submitted, what screens can you get in the KYC Pi Network app? 

After submitting the KYC Pi Network application, the Pioneer can expect to see a few different screens in the KYC app. Pioneers may see a screen indicating that the application is “review in progress”. If the KYC Pi Network application is approved tentatively (meaning it was accepted by Validators pending additional checks), the Pioneer may see a “tentative approval” screen.

If the additional checks further confirm the authenticity of the data and account, a Pioneer will see the “KYC passed” screen. For the majority of applications that are outside of the Tentative KYC Pi Network program, they will directly see the “KYC passed” screen without the additional checks, if they are accepted

8. As per previous announcements, a submitted KYC Pi Network application may be approved within 15 minutes if everything is submitted correctly and no name appeal is made. Is this still the case?

Yes, this is still the case as long as Pioneers have completed the required fields correctly and the availability of the human Validators is abundant in the country or region.

9. When will it be possible for KYC Pi Network Validators to review name change appeals?

For Pioneers who appealed to change their account name (for small name updates), their appeals are either resolved by only machine automation or require the help from human validators to resolve. The first case has already been in place unblocking such applications to proceed in their KYC process. For the second case, human validators will likely be able to review name change appeals in Q2 this year, after the priorities of additional checks on tentative KYC Pi Network applications and validators performance analysis.

10. My KYC is approved but not reflected in Mainnet Checklist Step 6. When can I proceed and start migration?

The Core Team is aware of this issue affecting some users and are working on resolving the data synchronization issue on the Mainnet Checklist in Q2 this year. In general, always rely on the Pi KYC app for the most accurate KYC status.

11. Overall, why is Pi Network requiring KYC before Mainnet Migration?

The vision of Pi Network is to build an inclusive and the most widely-distributed digital currency and ecosystem for all Pioneers. Pi Network’s mining mechanism is social-network based and relies on contributions of real Pioneers. Therefore, Pi has a strict policy of one account per person.

This requires a high degree of accuracy to establish that members in the network are genuine human beings, preventing individuals from being able to hoard Pi by creating fake accounts unfairly. KYC thus helps ensure the true humanness of the network in addition to compliance with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism regulations.

Only people who passed the KYC Pinetwork can migrate to the Pi Mainnet. The current Enclosed Mainnet period gives the community time to KYC and migrate to the Mainnet blockchain—a identity-verified, compliant and utilities-driven ecosystem where Pioneers can begin to use Pi for real goods and services.