BittensorTAO

Bittensor is a decentralized network that works as an open marketplace for machine intelligence. Developers, model builders and compute providers compete in specialized markets called subnets, and the network rewards the participants whose work is rated as the most useful. TAO is the network's native token. The project was started by Jacob Steeves and Ala Shaabana, who developed it through the Opentensor Foundation, and the network launched in 2021.

The network is divided into subnets, each focused on a different task, such as text generation, data storage or prediction. In each subnet, miners produce results, and validators score them. A mechanism called Yuma Consensus turns these scores into rewards, so the better the work, the more a participant earns. Rewards are split between miners, validators and the subnet's creator.

In February 2025, the dynamic TAO (dTAO) upgrade changed how rewards are distributed among subnets. Each subnet now has its own token, and the share of new TAO that a subnet receives depends on market demand for that token, instead of being set by a small group of validators.

Bittensor borrows Bitcoin's supply model. TAO has a maximum supply of 21 million tokens, and new issuance is cut in half each time half of the remaining supply has been issued. The first halving took place in December 2025 and reduced daily issuance from about 7,200 to about 3,600 TAO. Current circulating and total supply figures are shown at the top of this page.

TAO rose above $750 in the first half of 2024 and fell back afterward. You can see the all-time high and the full price history on the chart above.

Cointelegraph's Bittensor price index gives you the current TAO to USD price and the numbers behind it: market cap, 24-hour volume, all-time high and year-to-date performance. Explore the price chart across six timeframes and use the TAO to USD converter for quick calculations. TAO is the token that rewards miners and validators on the network. For market updates, see our markets news page.