The first distribution of KYC validator rewards has been completed! This first round began on Pi Day 2026, and all KYC validators with Mainnet wallets have now received their rewards on the Mainnet blockchain.
Over 526 million validations were successfully completed by over one million human validators. Combined with the AI processing in the system, this work resulted in 18 million people’s identities being verified worldwide. The completed work in KYC validation demonstrates the capability, consistency and scale of Pi’s global, distributed human workforce in driving meaningful real-world outcomes, especially in areas that require human judgment and input.
With the first distribution finished, now is a great time to start contributing! Pioneers are encouraged to become a KYC validator, complete accurate validation work, and join Pi’s decentralized workforce to demonstrate the power of distributed human input at a global scale. This is especially relevant for Pioneers as Pi continues to develop human-in-the-loop and KYC as a service processes.
In contributing to KYC validations, Pioneers can benefit from future distributions of KYC validator rewards and other decentralized work opportunities. For instance, the price per validation for this first distribution round was 22 times the current base mining rate.
Pi is currently working to improve the validator performance algorithm for the second distribution round.
Watch this video walkthrough to learn more about the rewards calculation.
Rewards were transferred to validators’ Mainnet Pi Wallets. To receive payments, KYC validators must have a Mainnet Pi Wallet, which can be obtained by completing the Mainnet Checklist and migrating to Mainnet. Or, eligible Pioneers can set up a Mainnet-enabled Wallet directly in the Wallet app (e.g. Fast Track Wallet) and confirm the wallet in the Mainnet Checklist.
Note: The excerpt below was originally part of the Pi Day 2026 announcement. Read on for full details on the rewards calculation, rationale, and insights into the AI implications of Pi’s large distributed workforce.
As a reminder of the original design for the validator rewards calculation when the KYC app was launched years ago, each Pioneer who migrates to the Mainnet pays 1 Pi into the pool of rewards to be distributed to KYC human validators. KYC validators’ work, as long as they contribute to the accuracy of the application processing, regardless of whether the final KYC result of the application is passing or rejection, should be paid by this pool because their work contributed to the network by correctly rejecting unqualified applications. However, those whose KYC applications were rejected do not migrate to the Mainnet, and they are thus unable to pay the 1 Pi.
Hence, the validator rewards pool of Pi is evenly distributed to all qualified work done within that period of time, by dividing the number of Pi in the pool by the total successful validations (Price per Validation). A KYC validator’s rewards then will be a product of this price and their successful validations. So the first round of the rewards is calculated by taking a snapshot of the pool and the total successful tasks at the same time before distribution (by March 5, 2026). Any new Pi entering the pool or new successful validations will be accounted for in the second and future deliveries.
Following the above method, at the snapshot, we have observed 16,568,774 Pi in the Validator Rewards Pool because there were 16,568,774 Pioneers migrated to Mainnet, 526,970,631 successful human validations done by 1,094,680 human validators.
