Fan, who co-founded the project with Nicolas Kokkalis and Vincent McPhillip, is set to speak at the event on Oct. 1–2, a Pi Network blog post announced.
“During this engagement, she will focus on crypto and blockchain as mechanisms for real societal utility and impact, analyzing current Web3 challenges and potential solutions for pushing the crypto space for more innovations in real-world utility.”
Since the platform’s launch, Fan has played a key role in leading product development while Kokkalis has served as chief technology officer. McPhillip, who handled community engagement, left Pi Network in February 2021 due to differences in vision.
Chengdiao Fan, co-founder of Pi Network. Photo from Pi Network
While Kokkalis has made occasional public appearances, Fan has not been publicly visible as the project’s co-founder, and her X account, linked to Pi Network’s website, remains inactive.
TOKEN2049 will mark a rare appearance for Fan, with Pi Network also listed as an event sponsor. The conference is expected to attract more than 25,000 attendees, including over 300 speakers and 500 exhibitors, ranging from industry founders and CEOs to investors, developers and policymakers.
Fan’s appearance could be seen as a positive sign for the Pi Network, but industry outlet CCN noted that Kokkalis’s previous media appearances had yielded limited progress for the project.
The market response has been lukewarm, with Pi’s token price edging up from US$0.34 to $0.36 following confirmation of Fan’s participation. It has lost nearly 90% of its value from a peak of $3 earlier this year.
Launched in 2019 Pi Network promoted itself as a way for users to mine the crypto for free by tapping a button in its mobile app daily. Vietnam is among the countries with the most miners. The project has been controversial, taking nearly six years to launch its mainnet before finally allowing users to transfer Pi to exchanges for trading on Feb. 20 this year.
But the project is still viewed as an incomplete blockchain initiative, lacking smart contract functionality and open-source transparency. To date the development team has only introduced limited updates, including a domain name auction feature, the PiFest shopping campaign and a few small-scale applications.
Subsidiary of VnExpress
License number: 71/GP-CBC, Ministry of Information and
Communications, September 22, 2021
Editor-in-Chief: Pham Van Hieu
Email: evne@vnexpress.netTel: 028 7300 9999 – Ext 8556
10th floor, Block A FPT Tower, 10 Pham Van Bach, Cau Giay Ward, Hanoi
© Copyright 1997 VnExpress.net. All rights reserved.