Pi Network community members, the colloquial Pioneers, lit up this week excitedly over Mastercard’s recent partnership with Chainlink (LINK).

However, if history is enough to go by, the euphoria may be premature, with expectations likely to fall through.

Pi Network Pioneers See Opportunity in Chainlink’s Mastercard Deal

Mastercard and Chainlink united to bring billions on-chain, unveiling a new product called Swapper Finance. The platform will allow 3.5 billion Mastercard cardholders to purchase crypto assets directly on-chain, using Chainlink’s secure, real-time infrastructure.

“I found Chainlink to be an incredibly quick partner on this in terms of coming up with solutions … The velocity and number of apps that can get on the platform will exponentially increase,” said Mastercard’s Head of Crypto & Blockchain Raj Dhamodharan.

The general sentiment is that this TradFi-to-DeFi bridge could be the missing link to mass adoption. However, nowhere was the reaction more intense than among supporters of Pi Network, the mobile-first blockchain boasting over 60 million users worldwide.

For Pioneers, the Chainlink-Mastercard deal positions the Pi Network at the cusp of mass adoption. Why? Pi Network was already integrated into Chainlink’s Data Streams earlier this year.

“Chainlink has officially supported the real-time data streaming service of $PI coins…This is a big step for the ‘open financialization’ of Pi coins,” wrote Pi Barter Mall.

The pioneer referenced the live price feed available at data.chain.link.

The Pi community sees a clear line connecting the dots. With Mastercard trusting Chainlink’s infrastructure to bridge fiat and crypto, and Pi Network already using that same infrastructure, Pi Coin may be next in line for direct fiat access.

For Pioneers, that means real utility and possibly real price appreciation. Jatin Gupta, a vocal Pi supporter, spelled out the implications.

“Pi Network + Chainlink Data Streams… unlocks massive potential for Pi’s 60M+ users in the #DeFi space,” the pioneer stated.

Gupta also highlighted that Chainlink’s integration opens up use cases like real-time DEX trading, lending platforms using Pi as collateral, and tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) on Pi’s blockchain.

In the same tone, Mr. Spock Pi, a prominent voice in the Pi Network community, echoed the sentiment.

“Mastercard and Chainlink Partnership Signals a New Era — Pi Network Is Already Aligned… This isn’t just a major win for crypto—it’s a giant leap forward for Pi Network and its global community,” wrote Mr. Spock Pi.

Pi Coin Price Rebounds, but Is the Optimism Justified?

Fueled by this narrative, Pi’s price has rebounded over 30% this week, according to data from the OKX exchange. Meanwhile, data on CoinGecko shows Pi Coin selling for $0.6099 as of this writing, up nearly 15% in the last 24 hours.

This surge suggests that for Pioneers, Chainlink’s Mastercard deal appears to validate years of patience and belief in Pi’s mission of financial inclusion and mainstream usability.

However, despite the growing excitement, some analysts caution that the Pi community may be getting ahead of itself.

When Chainlink announced support for 22 new assets via Data Streams in April, it included a wide range of tokens.

Some of them, including OMG, NEO, and RVN, did not experience any significant price movement or ecosystem breakthrough. Yet, none of these tokens saw the kind of frenzied reaction that Pi Network did.

Moreover, while Pi Network’s integration allows developers to use PI market data on other chains, it does not yet enable fiat purchases or on-chain trading for Pi Coin through Mastercard or any other mainstream payment rails.

While the infrastructure is promising, the use cases remain theoretical for now.