The Pi Wallet is a non-custodial wallet you open through the Pi Browser, and the one thing that decides whether you keep your PI is your passphrase: it is the private key, it lives only with you, and Pi cannot recover it. To send PI to an exchange you copy the deposit address and memo exactly, test with a small amount, and then move the rest. This guide covers the passphrase, balances, the transfer steps and the errors that cost people money. It is a research guide based on Pi’s official documentation and exchange notices. We did not make live transfers for this page, so we flag every point where only your own screen can tell you the answer.
What the Pi Wallet is, and what it is not
Pi’s FAQ describes the wallet as accessed through the Pi Browser, with its private key held by you as a passphrase generated locally and never sent to Pi’s servers. That is what “non-custodial” means. Nobody at Pi can freeze, reverse or restore it. The flip side of that freedom is that the mining app and the wallet are separate things. The mining app holds your daily session, your referral team and the Mainnet Checklist, while the wallet holds PI on the Pi mainnet blockchain once you have migrated.
A wallet is also not an exchange. It cannot sell PI for you, and it does not show an order book. To turn PI into dollars or euros you move it to a venue that lists it, as we explain in how to sell Pi coin. If you are still deciding between holding places, our best wallets for Pi compares them.
Pi’s Safety Center names wallet.pinet.com as the genuine wallet address and kyc.pinet.com for verification, and says Pi apps come from the iOS App Store and Google Play only. Anything else is a lookalike until proven otherwise.
Creating or unlocking the wallet
The path to a working mainnet wallet runs through identity verification. Pi’s FAQ says KYC validates Pioneers before they are eligible to migrate their mined mobile balance onto the Mainnet blockchain, and the Mainnet Checklist in the Pi app tracks your progress. In March 2026 Pi added that completing Pi Wallet two-factor authentication, step three of the checklist, is required before first or second migrations, and that it may require a trusted email address. In July 2026 Pi said it was removing Banxa as an in-app option for creating a mainnet wallet and pointing people to Fast Track KYC instead.
We cannot give screen-by-screen taps for each app version, because Pi changes its menus often (the July 2026 redesign is an example), and we would rather you follow the checklist in your own app than a screenshot that may be out of date. What we can say is the order: verify identity, create or unlock the wallet, set up 2FA, complete migration. Timelines and the latest state of the queue are on our mainnet and KYC page.
The passphrase: why it matters more than anything else
When you create the wallet, the app shows a passphrase. This is not a login password. It is the key itself, and Pi’s FAQ is explicit about the consequence: because the wallet is non-custodial it will not be recoverable from Pi Network’s servers, and after KYC and migration you may lose all of your wallet’s Pi if you lose it.
How many words is it? It is commonly described as 24 words, but we could not confirm that number on a Pi page we could read, so use whatever your own wallet displays, and record every word in order. Write it on paper. Store it somewhere dry and private. Keep a second copy elsewhere if the balance justifies it. Do not photograph it, do not save it in a notes app, a cloud drive or an email draft, and do not read it out to “support”.
The Pi Core Team’s own warnings say it will never ask for your passphrase, and Pi’s Safety Center says to input it only in the Pi Wallet. If a site, a Telegram account or a “recovery service” asks for it, you are being robbed. Paid “passphrase recovery” is a known scam category around Pi. Mistakes sharing a passphrase can result in irreversible transactions.
Reading your balance: locked, transferable, migrated
Newcomers confuse three numbers. The mining app shows a mobile balance accumulated by mining and bonuses. After KYC, the Mainnet Checklist and migration, the transferable part moves to your wallet on the mainnet blockchain, and Pi has been doing this in rolling batches, with “second migrations” for additional balances and referral bonuses from team members who completed KYC. Another part of the balance can be locked: Pi’s FAQ ties locks to user-chosen lockups linked to mining bonuses and to KYC and migration status. Pi has not published an official unlock schedule on the pages we read, so third-party unlock trackers are estimates, not facts.
The practical rule is simple: only what your wallet shows as transferable can be sent. If the number looks smaller than expected, check your migration status in the app before assuming something is wrong. Why this matters for money: at the 7 October 2026 snapshot of about $0.083, 1,000 transferable PI is roughly $83 before fees, and you can check the current rate on our live Pi price page.
How to send PI to an exchange
The exchange is the other half of the transfer, and it dictates the format. PI deposits are supported on OKX, Bitget, MEXC and Kraken per their announcements (Gate has a PI deposit page too), but each exchange’s screen is the authority on address, memo and network. MEXC’s notice, for example, tells users to deposit only on the Pi mainnet network. Kraken’s support page says a deposit needs a memo with a standard G address, or you can use a muxed M address that needs no memo. Before you start, read how to buy Pi coin if you still need an account, and make sure the venue is available in your country.
- Confirm the balance is transferable. Open the Pi Wallet and check that the amount you want to move is transferable and that your migration is complete.
- Copy the deposit details. On the exchange, open the PI deposit screen, choose the Pi mainnet network, and copy the address and the memo exactly. Paste them somewhere visible and compare character by character.
- Send a test amount. In the wallet choose send, paste the address, add the memo, read the network fee shown before you confirm, then send a small test.
- Wait for the credit. Do not move on until the test appears in the exchange balance. Blockchain transfers can be quick, but exchange crediting sometimes lags.
- Send the rest. Repeat with the remaining amount, and keep a little PI in the wallet to cover fees.
A test transfer costs one extra network fee and a few minutes. A wrong memo on a full balance can cost everything. Make the test a habit, every time, even for a wallet you have used before.
Two details deserve emphasis. First, the memo is part of the address in practice. Without it a pooled exchange address cannot tell whose deposit it is. Second, never reuse a deposit address you found in a chat, an email or an old note. Always copy it fresh from your logged-in exchange page.
When transfers go wrong
Wrong or missing memo. Kraken’s support page warns that this can delay or lose funds. Contact the exchange immediately with the transaction hash. Some will help, and none is required to.
Wrong network. Sending PI to an address on a different network can mean permanent loss. Pi’s block explorer for mainnet is blockexplorer.minepi.com/mainnet, which MEXC’s notice links to, and it lets you confirm that a transaction happened.
Not enough PI for fees. This is the most Pi-specific trap. On 17 September 2026 Pi reported that about 497,000 Fast-Track wallet holders could not claim their migration balance because they lacked Pi to cover gas fees, and promised an update within a week to reconcile the two KYC routes. The same logic applies to transfers: the wallet needs a little PI to pay the network fee, and the amount is shown on your screen, which we could not verify independently.
Stuck in a queue. Migration and KYC still back up. Pi’s September update also cleared more than 417,000 Pioneers from “possible duplicate” flags, so if your status looks stuck, check the Pi blog and the in-app notices before contacting anyone. Never pay a “helper”.
Security habits that actually matter
Keep your phone’s operating system updated and install apps only from the App Store or Google Play. Use only Pi’s official channels: minepi.com, @PiCoreTeam on X, the PiAnnouncements Telegram channel, and email from pi.email, picoreteam.org or minepi.com. Treat any unsolicited message about “wallet sync”, “migration deadlines” or “KYC fees” as hostile. Pi KYC is free. Don’t screenshot the passphrase screen. Don’t enter it on a computer unless the official flow asks for it. For a wider tour of what to avoid, read is Pi coin legit.
If you only remember one thing from this guide: PI is only as safe as your passphrase and your last copied memo. Treat both with the same care you would give a house key and a bank account number.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the Pi Wallet passphrase?
Can we recover a lost Pi Wallet passphrase?
How do we transfer Pi coin to an exchange?
Why is our Pi balance locked or not transferable?
What happens if we forget the memo?
Do Pi transfers cost a fee?
How many words is the Pi passphrase?
Sources & further reading
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