Bitcoin now, almost paradoxically with its original principles, is actually adopted by Wall Street. Bittensor emerges as a new way to 'fight' against centralization. This is a narrative that is currently hot. As AI evolves, there are also concerns about the concentration and centralization of that technology.

Bittensor and its cryptocurrency, TAO, aim to decentralize AI services. Although TAO lost almost 53% in 2025, some people believe that Bittensor is the new generation Bitcoin for the AI era. But how realistic is such optimism?

The Premise and Promise of Bittensor

The network just completed its reward halving on December 15, which reduced the supply of new coins. The problem is, many people have heard narratives like this before.

Many crypto assets have claimed to be 'the next Bitcoin' – because this story can indeed generate a lot of money.

Nevertheless, Bittensor can indeed have real value in the long term – it just faces significant challenges, much like other ambitious crypto projects. The story of Bittensor is not much different from Bitcoin: There are powerful players that have long been in control, but new networks can emerge and even overturn that world order.

For years, influencers have been repeating a nearly identical slogan, 'long Bitcoin, short the banks.' Even though Bitcoin is now in Wall Street banks and DAT stocks are being traded on public exchanges, this narrative has indeed managed to attract attention.

In essence, AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Deepseek have become too large and intimidating, causing people to become wary of their growth.

Decentralizing artificial intelligence work and replacing the conventional proof-of-work puzzle with AI that truly has real functions – that is the essence of Bittensor.

'Bitcoin proves that cryptographic incentives can coordinate a global hardware network to secure a ledger,' Evan Malanga, an executive at Yuma, one of the largest supporters of the Bittensor platform, told BeInCrypto. 'Bittensor uses the same mechanism and redirects computational power to something that has direct benefits in today's world: Training and running models, applications, and AI infrastructure.'

Another Bitcoin? Seriously?

It is important to note that Yuma is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), a company that was an early supporter of various crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Zcash, and Decentraland.

DCG is also an early investor in Coinbase, Circle, and Chainalysis. DCG CEO Barry Silbert clearly supports Bittensor – for some, this is a positive signal.

Bittensor indeed has several characteristics like Bitcoin. The available TAO is only 21 million, clearly mimicking the number of BTC. Bittensor also has a halving mechanism, the last of which in December reduced the reward from 7,200 TAO to 3,600 TAO per day.

Instead of using an energy-intensive proof-of-work puzzle like Bitcoin, Bittensor employs a proof-of-intelligence mechanism, where nodes must complete tasks to prove they can handle AI tasks. The better the quality of a node's task output, the greater the chance of receiving TAO rewards.

Nodes that are allowed into the Bittensor network then receive assigned subnets, of which there are currently 128. Each subnet specializes in different areas related to AI.

'Each subnet is like a marketplace dedicated to a specific type of AI service – some focus on image generation, while others are for language models,' said Arrash Yasavolian, co-founder of Taoshi, a provider of financial intelligence subnets.

Centralization vs Decentralization

Concerns about AI usually arise because only a handful of companies hold significant power. Concentration in one industry often leads to high prices and poor service for customers – sometimes both occur simultaneously.

Bittensor aims to make AI more globally beneficial with characteristics of decentralization – for example, by involving independent node operators to drive AI subnets.

'AI is redefining entire industries,' said Ken Jon Miyachi, CEO of BitMind, who runs a dedicated deepfake detection subnet in Bittensor. 'Bitcoin revolutionized store of value, but Bittensor revolutionizes the economic system by making intelligence a global commodity.'

But how decentralized is this network really? On July 10, 2024, the Bittensor network was halted after a hack worth US$8 million drained wallets. The chain then entered 'safe mode' which only produced blocks without any transaction capabilities.

'There are legitimate concerns about centralization at this point,' said Yasavolian from Taoshi. 'The OpenTensor Foundation is the only party responsible for block validation. The ten largest subnet validators control about 67% of the total stake weight of the network.'

Some may argue that the security risks of Bittensor and its ability to shut down the network contradict the principle of decentralization. Proponents of this network claim that full decentralization will be achieved later, thus becoming 'credibly neutral' like Bitcoin's goal as a store of value.

'Bittensor's long-term strategic goal is to become a truly neutral AI development tool. Its decentralization is gradual, similar to Ethereum's development,' added Yasavolian.

AI Alarm

One way to enhance decentralization in Bittensor and listen to more diverse voices is through subnet operators. These groups invest their time and money into the network, and they, like Yasavolian, also voice their opinions.

The growth of subnets is also very strong. Since the beginning of 2025, the number of subnets has increased by 97%, from 65 to 128.

Sergey Khusnetdinov, AI Director at Gain Ventures, considers this subnet community crucial to the success of Bittensor.

'The result is a meritocratic ecosystem that continues to evolve, where useful intelligence does not only emerge from a single laboratory or company, but organically from a permissionless global community.'

Currently, centralized AI companies have extremely high valuations – OpenAI is valued at US$500 billion, Anthropic at US$350 billion. Deepseek from China is reportedly also valued at US$150 billion. With these facts, what is the value of a powerful AI network like Bittensor?

Miyachi, CEO of BitMind who manages the deepfake detection subnet, believes that the Bittensor network could surpass Bitcoin in the future.

'The value generated by the Bittensor ecosystem could exceed Bitcoin in the long term,' he told BeInCrypto.

This greatly depends on how people perceive centralized AI systems over time, or whether they feel the need to be concerned. But Bitcoin itself has seen major spikes every time society faces economic instability or centralization failures like a global pandemic, bank runs, and fiat currency debasement.

Perhaps soon, influencers will say, 'long Bittensor, short centralized AI.' But who can predict? Sometimes the future can be stranger than what AI can predict.