Pi Network’s SLICE Testnet and Launchpad Updates Draw Attention Before Pi2Day
Pi Network has had a busy run-up to Pi2Day on June 28. It rolled out a new Testnet token and changed its Launchpad flow, so users now have something concrete to poke at while the project still takes heat for slow Mainnet progress. Fair criticism, honestly. Activity is not the same thing as delivery.
The Pi Core Team said it changed Pi Launchpad after feedback from more than 478,000 people who joined the first Testnet token experiment. It has now added a second Testnet token, SLICE, which runs until June 28. My take: this is ordinary software work, but crypto often dresses ordinary work up like a breakthrough. Test, listen, fix. Then test again. Why does that matter? Because a confusing app can lose users faster than a bad price chart, especially when the target audience is not full-time crypto traders.
Pi Network says the first Launchpad test brought in community feedback and helped the team clean up how participation works. The new version starts with Test-Pi commitment amounts. Users choose how much Test-Pi they want to commit, and the platform handles the next steps. That makes sense. Pi has always aimed at regular users, not only people who spend their nights comparing gas fees. Most crypto guides say education fixes onboarding. That’s only half right. Sometimes the better answer is removing the step entirely. Polygon (MATIC) and Avalanche (AVAX) gained ground partly because they made some crypto tasks less painful than older chains.
Pi Launchpad has updated its participation flow and model, incorporating data and feedback from the first Testnet token that launched on Pi Day 2026!
The first Launchpad test token attracted over 478,000 participating Pioneers and generated valuable feedback on the Launchpad… pic.twitter.com/TE394SyaYk
– Pi Network (@PiCoreTeam) June 12, 2026
The team says it wants Launchpad participation to be easier, clearer, and fairer. SLICE is there to test whether the new version actually does that. Like the earlier Launchpad tests, SLICE only runs on Testnet and will not move to Mainnet. That point matters. Testnet tokens are not investment assets. They have no built-in value. They are test tools. I’ll be honest: this is where some Pi coverage gets too generous. Testnet activity can show whether a team is shipping updates and watching user behavior, but it does not prove demand for the token. On networks such as Solana (SOL) and Ethereum (ETH), active Testnets have often come before Mainnet upgrades or new app launches. Sometimes that activity shapes market expectations later.
Pi is trading around $0.134, with early signs of recovery on the short-term chart. The first resistance level for bulls is near $0.1378. Small move. Loud market. Crypto can get noisy over tiny changes when product news lands at the same time, and SLICE gives the community another reason to keep watching. Immediate support is near $0.1296, with stronger support around $0.1242. If sellers take control again, I would watch $0.1186. Is this deep technical analysis? No. But it carries more weight when the project is also releasing updates. XRP showed how fast sentiment can move prices in early 2023, when positive legal news helped push it from about $0.35 to above $0.50 before the final ruling arrived.
With Pi2Day close, the SLICE Launchpad test and the price recovery give Pi users something to follow besides old promises. That does not prove the project. Not even close. Counter to the usual hype cycle, I think the boring question is the right one here: what actually changes for users on June 28? If the answer is only another progress update, the attention fades. If there is real Mainnet news, the conversation gets harder to ignore.
What this means
Pi Network’s Testnet and Launchpad activity shows that the core team is still working on the product before Pi2Day. For crypto investors, that is better than silence, even if the project is still stuck in Testnet-heavy territory. The simpler Launchpad flow also matches Pi’s pitch: crypto for people who do not want to deal with crypto’s usual friction. I would not overread that, though. If Mainnet ever opens fully, that design choice could matter. For now, the price near $0.134 is still speculative. It says more about attention and expectations than proven value.
The next things to watch are the SLICE test results and any Pi2Day announcements on June 28. Traders will be watching $0.1378. A clean move above that level could point to more short-term upside. A fall below $0.1296, especially below $0.1186, would weaken the current bullish mood. Price is only half the story. Yes, that sounds like a reversal from the chart talk above, but it isn’t. The bigger test is whether Pi gives users a Mainnet migration timeline or a real use case for the Pi token. That is what could change the longer-term conversation. Ethereum’s Beacon Chain launch in December 2020 showed how a technical milestone can reset expectations; ETH later moved from under $600 to over $4,000 as the Merge story developed.