Bitcoin, almost contradictory to its original spirit, has now been embraced by Wall Street. Bittensor is a new finger for the central “man”. It’s a very hot novel. With the advent of artificial intelligence, concerns have emerged about the concentration and centralization of technology.
Bittensor and its cryptocurrency TAO aim to decentralize AI services. Despite losing nearly 53% in 2025, some believe Bittensor is the next generation Bitcoin for the AI era. But how realistic is this optimism?
The premise and promise of Bittensor
The network has just completed the reward halving on December 15, reducing the supply of minted coins. The problem is that many have heard this story before.
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Many cryptocurrencies have claimed to be “the next Bitcoin” – because there is money to be made from that story.
However, there could be some The true value of Bittensor in the long term – Although there are hurdles to overcome, as with any kind of ambitious cryptocurrency project like this.
The story of Bittensor is not unlike Bitcoin: there are powerful incumbents, and a new network could take over and even upend this global order.
For years, influencers have often reworked a similar anthemic phrase “Buy Bitcoin, sell banks“Although Bitcoin is now embedded in Wall Street banks and publicly traded DAT stocks, this narrative has worked well.
The premise is that AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and… Deepseek has gotten very big And scary, people have to worry about their ascension.
Decentralizing AI workloads and replacing proof-of-work puzzles with actual AI for real use is Bittensor’s core core.
“Bitcoin has proven that cryptographic incentives can coordinate a global network of devices to secure the ledger.” Ivan Malangaan executive at Yuma, one of the biggest backers of the Bittensor platform, told BeInCrypto. “Bittensor takes the same mechanism and redirects computing power toward something that has direct benefits in today’s world: training and running AI models, applications, and infrastructure.”
Another bitcoin? truly?
It is important to note that Yuma is a subsidiary of Digitalency Group (DCG), whose company was one of the early backers of various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Zcash, and Decentraland.
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It was also an early investor in Coinbase, Circle, and Chainasis. DCG CEO, Barry SilbertHe’s clearly on board with Bittensor – which could be seen as a positive sign for some.
Bittensor has some similar properties to Bitcoin. There are only 21 million units of TAO, which is a clear reference to BTC. Bittensor also has halvings, which reduced its rewards in December from 7,200 TAO to 3,600 per day.
Instead of the energy-intensive proof-of-work puzzles that Bitcoin uses, Bittensor uses something called proof-of-intelligence, where nodes must perform tasks to prove they can handle AI workloads. The better the quality of a node’s task output, the greater the chance it has of receiving rewards in TAO.
A subnet is then assigned to the allowed nodes on the Bittensor network, of which there are currently 128. These subnets contain different specializations related to AI.
“Each subnet is like a niche market for a particular type of AI service – some focused on image generation, others on language models,” he said. Yasafulyan walnutco-founder of Taoshi, which runs a financial intelligence subnet.
Centralization versus decentralization
Concerns about artificial intelligence are often centered on a few companies with concentrated power. Concentration in any industry usually means high prices and poor customer services – sometimes both at the same time.
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Bittensor aims to make AI more globally useful through its decentralized features, such as having independent node operators running subnetworks of its AI capabilities.
“AI is redefining every industry,” he said. Ken Jun MiyashiCEO of BitMind, which runs a subnet focused on deepfake detections on Bittensor. “Bitcoin has revolutionized the store of value, but Bittensor is revolutionizing entire economic systems by making intelligence a global commodity.”
But how decentralized is this network? On July 10, 2024, Bettensor Network It was shut down amid an $8 million hack that drained wallets. The chain was placed in “safe mode” which produced blocks without any transaction capabilities.
“There are legitimate concerns about centralization today,” Tausi’s Yasafoolyan noted. “The OpenTensor Foundation is the sole party responsible for block validation. The top 10 subnet validators account for approximately 67% of the total network stake weight.”
Some may argue that the security risks Bittensor faces and its ability to shut down the network conflict with decentralization. Supporters of the network say full decentralization will come later, becoming “credibly neutral” in the same way that bitcoin is supposed to be for the purposes of storing value.
“Bittensor’s long-term strategic goal is to become a reliably neutral AI development tool. It is progressive decentralization, similar to how Ethereum has evolved,” Yasavolyan added.
Artificial intelligence alarm
One way to increase Bittensor’s decentralization and hear more dissenting voices is via subnet operators. These groups spend time and money investing in the network, and, like Yasavolyan, they voice their opinions.
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Subnetwork growth was strong. Since the beginning of 2025, the number of subnets has increased by 97%, from 65 to 128.
Sergey Khusnitdinov, Director of Artificial Intelligence at profit projects, The subnet community sees it as critical to Bittensor’s success.
“The result is a meritocratic, self-improvement ecosystem, where useful intelligence doesn’t come from a single lab or company, but rather emerges organically from a global, permissionless community.”
Centralized AI companies are ridiculously valued these days, with OpenAI worth $500 billion and Anthropic at $350 billion. China-based Deepseek is rumored to be worth $150 billion. With that in mind, what is the value of a powerful AI network like Bittensor?
Miyashi, CEO of BitMind which runs a deepfake detection subnet, optimistically believes the Bittensor network could one day outperform the Bitcoin network.
“The value generated by the Bittensor ecosystem could exceed the value of Bitcoin in the long term,” he told BeInCrypto.
This may ultimately depend on how people perceive centralized AI systems over time, or whether anyone feels anxious. But Bitcoin has seen massive runs as people react to economic instability and centralization failures such as the global pandemic, bank withdrawals, and… Decrease the value of paper currency.
Perhaps soon, influencers might be saying: “Short central AI, long Bittensor.” But who knows? Sometimes the future can be stranger than what AI can predict.
