Person. JJ
Commercial open source investor who bought TAO in early 2023, committed a dedicated $25M in January 2024, then became a builder through Latent Holdings (subnets 14 and 5) and co-hosted The TAO Pod, framing Bittensor as Bitcoin and Linux applied to AI and as a transformation of capitalism itself.
This last year brought on high levels of awareness and participation across a broad set of stakeholders, miners, developers, end users, speculators, analysts and researchers all working toward the same mission: make AI a sustainable common good.
12 Jan 2024 · in contextEvery quote is verbatim and dated. The reading above each era is written from the cited quotes only. Numbers link to the quote they cite.
Jacks goes public in January 2024 with a founder tribute and a $25M commitment, framing Bittensor through Steeves' refusal of the closed, VC-funded path and the mission to make AI a sustainable common good 001 007 005. On Unchained he sets the precedent as Bitcoin plus Linux and says the network is inverting capitalism 016 018, and his proof is dollars: emission spend, startup counts, startup comps 008 011. By late January 2025 he is previewing dTAO as direct democracy 023.
linuxThe AI founder I'm most inspired by ... over the last year is Jake Steeves (@const_reborn), father of Bittensor. ... Instead of easily joining or founding a closed and heavily VC-funded foundation model startup, Jake decided to commit to a different path… one that would change the course of his life and, over time, everyone else's forever.
Opening of his first long blog post on Bittensor, posted the same day as a thread on X, introducing Jacob Steeves to his open source audience.
a type of specialized blockchain engineered to scalably train and run AI models of all kinds, sizes, levels of sophistication and purpose… without censorship… without discrimination… and one of the fundamental aspects of this system would lie in how it incentivizes the production of better and better intelligences for the benefit of all species
Describing what Steeves conceived in 2016, in the same blog post.
A handful of very early believers like @BarrySilbert and some others invested in the project at the very early stages of its development — I personally invested in early 2023.
Placing himself in the investor lineage of the project, in the same blog post.
the mission they are on is deeply profound … create robust and incorruptible systems that enable open source and permissionless AI (and AGI + ASI + whatever other goal-post-moving acronyms materialize from here) in a way that truly does ensure equal opportunity and access to the best intelligences possible in all domains.
Stating the mission as he reads it, in the same blog post.
This last year brought on high levels of awareness and participation across a broad set of stakeholders, miners, developers, end users, speculators, analysts and researchers all working toward the same mission: make AI a sustainable common good.
Naming the audiences of the network and the one line mission, in the X version of the post.
I'm extremely excited about the future of this project and this is absolutely not investment advice, but you should go out and figure out how to acquire some $TAO. Then do yourself a favor and hold it forever.
Closing line of the X thread, addressed to his followers.
OSS Capital is committing $25M to invest exclusively in the Bittensor ecosystem. We believe Bittensor represents the most vibrant community and network focused on accelerating decentralized and truly open AI for all.
Announcement post on his blog and LinkedIn of a dedicated OSS Capital allocation to Bittensor.
Bittensor is generating > $150M in revenue compensation for developers building AI services on the network. Growing exponentially. As a VC funded startup, it would be valued at > $15 Billion. Instead, it's a decentralized cap table for all. Trading at $2B~. Let it be known.
Post on X comparing the network's emission spend with how a venture backed startup would be valued.
7,200 Bittensor $TAO tokens get emitted to the network every day until the first halving in September 2025. That's $4 million per day, $120 million per month and $1.5 billion annually. ... A whopping THIRD of these teams are earning millions of dollars every month… and the bar is still low given the nascency of Bittensor. Jump in. You're welcome.
LinkedIn post pointing developers at the emission budget and the size of subnet teams.
Bittensor was envisioned and founded before OpenAI.
Quote post of a Jacob Steeves tweet, asserting the network's priority over the closed lab.
The number (15+) of Bittensor-dedicated startups is growing exponentially 📈 … ! How many Bittensor competitors can remotely boast the same? Zero.
Post on X listing fifteen subnet and tooling teams as evidence of ecosystem growth.
Pack it up folks. Bittensor is a scam. Looks too much like Bitcoin. 😬
Sarcastic quote post replying to @defi_mochi, who had argued that half of circulating supply would hit the market within a year.
We invest in open source startups exclusively. We're not really a crypto or Web 3 or like blockchain investor.
Answering Laura Shin's opening question about what OSS Capital is, on Unchained with Sami Kassab.
I learned about BitTensor early last year, January, February timeframe. And initially was very skeptical of BitTenser, I think, as most kind of non-crypto, non-blockchain native people tend to be
Asked on Unchained how OSS Capital came to the project; wording as rendered by the auto transcript.
And so we actually think there's going to be a huge shift from the centralized AI, proprietary AI kind of closed companies to BitTensor really incentivizing this large commodity marketplace.
Explaining the investment thesis on Unchained.
I think BitTensor is really, for the first time, kind of like putting a stake in the ground and saying, we should apply these same types of principles, Bitcoin with fiat currencies, Linux, with closed proprietary operating systems.
On Unchained, drawing the precedent of Bitcoin and Linux for what Bittensor does to AI.
You should not have to go and get a job at one of these big tech companies. You should not have to go and raise capital from a VC...you should not have to go and get someone's sign off and okay.
On Unchained, describing what permissionless participation means for a builder.
What BitTensor is actually doing is inverting capitalism...get rewarded by this token, which is increasingly worth more as you have more activity contribution on the network...you're only producing open commodities.
On Unchained, contrasting the network's model with a venture funded AI company.
I personally believe that all of these kind of fear-mongering concerns...are completely baseless...technology is amoral and apolitical...Where the risk comes from is how humans apply the technology.
On Unchained, asked whether AI poses dangers to humanity.
they really want to do what's called regulatory capture...this is the most powerful and interesting kind of development that humans have ever kind of discovered...It's never been more important to create a platform...democratically.
On Unchained, on what the large AI labs want from regulators and why that argues for an open platform.
From first principles about the amount of capital and talent that you could aggregate in a decentralized permissionless system, it vastly vastly outstrips all of the big internet companies combined.
Closing argument on Unchained for why the network can compete with the largest AI companies.
I own no Bitcoin, my only massive exposure to a proof-of-useful-work token is Bittensor $TAO which will get to $100K in 1/2 the time it took $BTC. But this is a happy day. Am immensely important milestone. Bitcoin is the MOTHER of Bittensor.
Post on X on the day Bitcoin first crossed $100,000.
Bittensor is showing us what the potentially perfect form of direct democracy (dd) could look like. ... My prediction is that Bittensor dTAO (dynamic TAO) will be the most interesting and potentially successful form of dd in human history.
Thread on X pushing back on Marc Andreessen's dismissal of direct democracy on the Lex Fridman podcast, weeks before dTAO went live.
But instead of a single commodity on the network like SHA256 Hashes on Bitcoin, there's N commodities … ! Each commodity takes a slice of the network to express its "incentive mechanism" ..which is basically an arbitrarily complex program that specifies the boot-loader logic for a loss function that optimizes over a problem space.
Same thread, explaining subnets to a general audience.
After the upgrade he speaks as a builder as much as an investor: Latent Holdings launches TAOHash on subnet 14 and he advises subnet teams to mine their own networks and refuse VC money 031 028 029. The capitalism line hardens into an aphorism 033 035, subnets become stocks for ideas and market networks replacing rulers 038 041, VC-funded imitators become the foil 043, and he turns critical of the network's own outreach and precision 036 045.
capitalismShift From investor advocacy built on precedent and dollar proof to builder and steward voice, with the Bitcoin comparison compressed into slogans and new self-criticism.
Bittensor $TAO is the only borderless incentive layer for accelerating the continuously improving production of open source AI on many dimensions. This layer has already surpassed critical mass adoption by builders. It still lags cutting edge centralized open source efforts — but it will surpass those over the coming years just as open always does with closed when properly applied.
Long post on X a few days before the dTAO upgrade, restating his thesis.
Bittensor uses the exact same architectural principles to enable anyone to express an incentive mechanism and unlock latent talent toward a common objective function: proof of useful utility work, directly undergirding the applications that are redefining the future of computing.
Same post, after comparing Bittensor's design with Bitcoin's SHA-256 commodity production.
By example, on the first few moments of the dTAO merge a few hours ago, many subnets were trading at $10-20 billion FDVs… bringing the "total synthetic" FDV of Bittensor itself to well over $100B.
Post on X hours after dynamic TAO went live, explaining alpha token supply and valuation.
I have changed my mind about Bittensor subnet owner teams mining their own network. They should. If the incentive mechanism is rigorously well designed to produce an infinitely improving commodity - and heavily resistant to exploitation.
Post on X reversing an earlier position on subnet owners mining their own subnets, addressed to subnet teams.
Focus on the beauty and fundamental advantage of Bittensor: Permissionless extrinsic ($TAO and corresponding alpha) incentives for producing continuously improving N dimensional digital commodities. The entire point is to create a sustainable "bootstrapped" activation energy for teams anywhere to create asymmetrical contributions without the need to get ANYONE's permission for anything... especially a VC.
Same post, advising subnet teams against raising venture capital.
Chutes (sn64) is (currently) the top ranked #1 subnet on Bittensor with a $50M~ valuation. If Chutes were a startup, 100% of VCs would price it at a valuation somewhere between 10-20X higher.
Post on X about subnet 64 after dTAO price discovery.
What is @TAOHash? The first and leading subnet for decentralizing PoW (proof-of-work) mining hashrate, rental and exchange. ... Bittensor itself was created after being heavily inspired by the original incentive mechanism (rewarding SHA-256 hashrate).
Announcing that his company Latent Holdings had acquired subnet 14 and would launch TAOHash on it.
Bittensor Subnet 3 (@tplr_ai) and the overall Bittensor network itself solves this … Scam Altcoin can kiss his paternalistic god mode ambitions goodbye.
Post on X setting Templar's decentralized training and the network against Sam Altman, whom he renames.
Bittensor is to capitalism what Bitcoin is to fiat.
Quoted by Yogita Khatri in The Block's newsletter on why investors are drawn to TAO.
Bittensor has raised zero dollars from venture capital.
Quoted in the same Block piece, contrasting the network with crypto AI projects that raised hundreds of millions.
Bitcoin transforms capital. Bittensor transforms capitalism.
Standalone post on X, four days after The Block ran his longer version of the line.
Bittensor has accomplished 100X more with ZERO venture funding vs. all other "crypto AI" networks combined... But the world doesn't know. Bittensor sucks at engaging the conventional way — papers, conferences, etc. That's going to change.
Post on X announcing that Latent Holdings would publish papers on its subnet 14 incentive mechanism at ML venues.
Bittensor TAO is the incentive for continuously improving, humanity-owned, decentralized, permissionless, open source, open weights, open data, digital machine intelligence commodities. Across all categories of capability, including all the way to SUPERINTELLIGENCE.
Post on X about emissions ahead of the first halving, quoting his own post on Elon Musk's compute ambitions.
Subnets are stocks for ideas until those ideas become reality.
Co-hosting The TAO Pod with James Altucher; wording from the iHeart episode page, attributed there to Jacks.
Incentives transcend currencies because it's a meta language.
Same TAO Pod episode, on incentives as something above any single currency.
Bittensor is a series of continuously learning reinforcement models economically incentivized and permissionless.
Same TAO Pod episode, defining the network.
An adaptation… 🧘♂️ Bittensor subnets will replace networks with markets. Humans are the networked species.
Opening of a long post on X that rewrites Naval Ravikant's 2017 thread on blockchains replacing networks with markets, substituting Bittensor subnets.
Bittensor subnets are a new invention that allows meritorious participants in an open network to govern without a ruler and without money. They are merit-based, tamper-proof, open, voting systems. ... Bittensor subnet-based market networks will replace existing networks. Slowly, then suddenly. In one thing, then in many things. Ultimately, the nation-state is just a network (of networks).
Same post, the core claim and the closing lines.
There are no direct competitors to Bittensor itself, but there are many VC-funded competitors to many Bittensor subnets ... The common pattern we observe across all of these below is pre-mine token sales (unfair distribution of economics) to VCs and no live mainnet launches on any, after years of effort and > $300M in funding.
Quote post on X replying to a project pitching itself as a Bittensor alternative.
I'm excited to collaborate with the first and largest pure-play public TAO treasury company.
Quoted in the TAO Synergies press release naming him an advisor to its treasury strategy, filed with the SEC.
Today, in 2025, Bittensor is akin to those early speed-of-light experiments: Clever but lossy, and very imperfect.
Blog post comparing the history of measuring the speed of light with refining subnet incentive mechanisms.
Subnet 62 (Ridges) achieved 80% on SWE-Bench in under 45 days with minimal capital, showing Bittensor incentives unlocking efficiencies orders of magnitude beyond centralized incumbents.
Same blog post, offered as evidence that the incentives already work.
The same dynamic will occur with every Bittensor halving (first one occurring next month!). Inverse ~ Jevons: More digital scarcity will create more incentive consumption.
Quote post on X of a chart showing Bitcoin hashrate rising after its halving.
Jacob Steeves. The man. The myth. The legend.
LinkedIn post sharing a YouTube video titled About Bittensor.
No Bittensor statements from June 2026 onward were reached. His last found Bittensor item is a January 2026 LinkedIn tribute to Steeves 048; his April 2026 post on Anthropic's Mythos argues for open weights without naming Bittensor, and the TAO Pod's August 2026 relaunch says he is no longer a co-host.
Shift Public Bittensor output thins; whether this is a step back or a search gap is unresolved.
A brand strategy skeleton turned on the speaker: not what Bittensor's brand is, but what this voice's Bittensor is. Slots with no evidence are left out rather than filled.
What they say it is for, the world it builds, what it stands for.
Bittensor exists to incentivize the production of ever better, open, permissionless intelligence that anyone can access, with AI as a sustainable common good rather than a closed product.
a type of specialized blockchain engineered to scalably train and run AI models of all kinds, sizes, levels of sophistication and purpose… without censorship… without discrimination… and one of the fundamental aspects of this system would lie in how it incentivizes the production of better and better intelligences for the benefit of all species
the mission they are on is deeply profound … create robust and incorruptible systems that enable open source and permissionless AI (and AGI + ASI + whatever other goal-post-moving acronyms materialize from here) in a way that truly does ensure equal opportunity and access to the best intelligences possible in all domains.
This last year brought on high levels of awareness and participation across a broad set of stakeholders, miners, developers, end users, speculators, analysts and researchers all working toward the same mission: make AI a sustainable common good.
Bittensor TAO is the incentive for continuously improving, humanity-owned, decentralized, permissionless, open source, open weights, open data, digital machine intelligence commodities. Across all categories of capability, including all the way to SUPERINTELLIGENCE.
Bittensor is a series of continuously learning reinforcement models economically incentivized and permissionless.
He sees subnets as merit-based market networks that replace networks run by kings, corporations and mobs, a workable direct democracy with capitalism embedded, and a system whose incentives will tighten toward mathematical precision over time.
Bittensor is showing us what the potentially perfect form of direct democracy (dd) could look like. ... My prediction is that Bittensor dTAO (dynamic TAO) will be the most interesting and potentially successful form of dd in human history.
An adaptation… 🧘♂️ Bittensor subnets will replace networks with markets. Humans are the networked species.
Bittensor subnets are a new invention that allows meritorious participants in an open network to govern without a ruler and without money. They are merit-based, tamper-proof, open, voting systems. ... Bittensor subnet-based market networks will replace existing networks. Slowly, then suddenly. In one thing, then in many things. Ultimately, the nation-state is just a network (of networks).
Today, in 2025, Bittensor is akin to those early speed-of-light experiments: Clever but lossy, and very imperfect.
Permissionless participation without a job at big tech, a VC or anyone's sign off; equal access; technology treated as amoral, with the risk located in human application.
the mission they are on is deeply profound … create robust and incorruptible systems that enable open source and permissionless AI (and AGI + ASI + whatever other goal-post-moving acronyms materialize from here) in a way that truly does ensure equal opportunity and access to the best intelligences possible in all domains.
You should not have to go and get a job at one of these big tech companies. You should not have to go and raise capital from a VC...you should not have to go and get someone's sign off and okay.
I personally believe that all of these kind of fear-mongering concerns...are completely baseless...technology is amoral and apolitical...Where the risk comes from is how humans apply the technology.
What is broken that Bittensor answers, in their telling.
AI fear-mongering is baseless in his telling; the real danger is how humans and institutions apply the technology.
I personally believe that all of these kind of fear-mongering concerns...are completely baseless...technology is amoral and apolitical...Where the risk comes from is how humans apply the technology.
The network's builders outperform venture funded rivals but fail to engage the conventional research world, so the world does not know.
Bittensor has accomplished 100X more with ZERO venture funding vs. all other "crypto AI" networks combined... But the world doesn't know. Bittensor sucks at engaging the conventional way — papers, conferences, etc. That's going to change.
Large labs seek regulatory capture over the most powerful technology humans have discovered, which makes a democratically built platform urgent.
they really want to do what's called regulatory capture...this is the most powerful and interesting kind of development that humans have ever kind of discovered...It's never been more important to create a platform...democratically.
Bittensor Subnet 3 (@tplr_ai) and the overall Bittensor network itself solves this … Scam Altcoin can kiss his paternalistic god mode ambitions goodbye.
The tailwinds they cite.
A permissionless system can aggregate more capital and talent than all big internet companies combined; emission budgets, halvings and subnet revenue are cited as tailwinds.
From first principles about the amount of capital and talent that you could aggregate in a decentralized permissionless system, it vastly vastly outstrips all of the big internet companies combined.
7,200 Bittensor $TAO tokens get emitted to the network every day until the first halving in September 2025. That's $4 million per day, $120 million per month and $1.5 billion annually. ... A whopping THIRD of these teams are earning millions of dollars every month… and the bar is still low given the nascency of Bittensor. Jump in. You're welcome.
The same dynamic will occur with every Bittensor halving (first one occurring next month!). Inverse ~ Jevons: More digital scarcity will create more incentive consumption.
Who they talk to and what they tell them.
He talks to developers and subnet teams (jump in, mine your own subnet, do not raise VC) and to holders (acquire TAO and hold it forever).
This last year brought on high levels of awareness and participation across a broad set of stakeholders, miners, developers, end users, speculators, analysts and researchers all working toward the same mission: make AI a sustainable common good.
I'm extremely excited about the future of this project and this is absolutely not investment advice, but you should go out and figure out how to acquire some $TAO. Then do yourself a favor and hold it forever.
7,200 Bittensor $TAO tokens get emitted to the network every day until the first halving in September 2025. That's $4 million per day, $120 million per month and $1.5 billion annually. ... A whopping THIRD of these teams are earning millions of dollars every month… and the bar is still low given the nascency of Bittensor. Jump in. You're welcome.
I have changed my mind about Bittensor subnet owner teams mining their own network. They should. If the incentive mechanism is rigorously well designed to produce an infinitely improving commodity - and heavily resistant to exploitation.
What they set it against.
Set against closed, VC-funded foundation model startups and OpenAI (which the network predates), against VC-funded imitators with pre-mine sales and no mainnet, against critics of emissions, and against regulatory capture by big labs.
The AI founder I'm most inspired by ... over the last year is Jake Steeves (@const_reborn), father of Bittensor. ... Instead of easily joining or founding a closed and heavily VC-funded foundation model startup, Jake decided to commit to a different path… one that would change the course of his life and, over time, everyone else's forever.
Bittensor was envisioned and founded before OpenAI.
And so we actually think there's going to be a huge shift from the centralized AI, proprietary AI kind of closed companies to BitTensor really incentivizing this large commodity marketplace.
Bittensor is generating > $150M in revenue compensation for developers building AI services on the network. Growing exponentially. As a VC funded startup, it would be valued at > $15 Billion. Instead, it's a decentralized cap table for all. Trading at $2B~. Let it be known.
Pack it up folks. Bittensor is a scam. Looks too much like Bitcoin. 😬
Bittensor Subnet 3 (@tplr_ai) and the overall Bittensor network itself solves this … Scam Altcoin can kiss his paternalistic god mode ambitions goodbye.
There are no direct competitors to Bittensor itself, but there are many VC-funded competitors to many Bittensor subnets ... The common pattern we observe across all of these below is pre-mine token sales (unfair distribution of economics) to VCs and no live mainnet launches on any, after years of effort and > $300M in funding.
Focus on the beauty and fundamental advantage of Bittensor: Permissionless extrinsic ($TAO and corresponding alpha) incentives for producing continuously improving N dimensional digital commodities. The entire point is to create a sustainable "bootstrapped" activation energy for teams anywhere to create asymmetrical contributions without the need to get ANYONE's permission for anything... especially a VC.
Bittensor $TAO is the only borderless incentive layer for accelerating the continuously improving production of open source AI on many dimensions. This layer has already surpassed critical mass adoption by builders. It still lags cutting edge centralized open source efforts — but it will surpass those over the coming years just as open always does with closed when properly applied.
Chutes (sn64) is (currently) the top ranked #1 subnet on Bittensor with a $50M~ valuation. If Chutes were a startup, 100% of VCs would price it at a valuation somewhere between 10-20X higher.
Category frame, differentiator, reason to believe.
Bittensor is Bitcoin and Linux applied to AI: a commodity marketplace, an incentive layer, a form of direct democracy, and a transformation of capitalism the way Bitcoin transformed capital.
I think BitTensor is really, for the first time, kind of like putting a stake in the ground and saying, we should apply these same types of principles, Bitcoin with fiat currencies, Linux, with closed proprietary operating systems.
And so we actually think there's going to be a huge shift from the centralized AI, proprietary AI kind of closed companies to BitTensor really incentivizing this large commodity marketplace.
Bittensor $TAO is the only borderless incentive layer for accelerating the continuously improving production of open source AI on many dimensions. This layer has already surpassed critical mass adoption by builders. It still lags cutting edge centralized open source efforts — but it will surpass those over the coming years just as open always does with closed when properly applied.
Bittensor is showing us what the potentially perfect form of direct democracy (dd) could look like. ... My prediction is that Bittensor dTAO (dynamic TAO) will be the most interesting and potentially successful form of dd in human history.
Bittensor is to capitalism what Bitcoin is to fiat.
Bitcoin transforms capital. Bittensor transforms capitalism.
I own no Bitcoin, my only massive exposure to a proof-of-useful-work token is Bittensor $TAO which will get to $100K in 1/2 the time it took $BTC. But this is a happy day. Am immensely important milestone. Bitcoin is the MOTHER of Bittensor.
Subnets are stocks for ideas until those ideas become reality.
a type of specialized blockchain engineered to scalably train and run AI models of all kinds, sizes, levels of sophistication and purpose… without censorship… without discrimination… and one of the fundamental aspects of this system would lie in how it incentivizes the production of better and better intelligences for the benefit of all species
What is @TAOHash? The first and leading subnet for decentralizing PoW (proof-of-work) mining hashrate, rental and exchange. ... Bittensor itself was created after being heavily inspired by the original incentive mechanism (rewarding SHA-256 hashrate).
Incentives transcend currencies because it's a meta language.
Bittensor is a series of continuously learning reinforcement models economically incentivized and permissionless.
An adaptation… 🧘♂️ Bittensor subnets will replace networks with markets. Humans are the networked species.
N commodities instead of one, permissionless extrinsic incentives, no venture funding and a fairer ownership distribution than early Bitcoin; it inverts the AI business model by rewarding open outputs.
What BitTensor is actually doing is inverting capitalism...get rewarded by this token, which is increasingly worth more as you have more activity contribution on the network...you're only producing open commodities.
But instead of a single commodity on the network like SHA256 Hashes on Bitcoin, there's N commodities … ! Each commodity takes a slice of the network to express its "incentive mechanism" ..which is basically an arbitrarily complex program that specifies the boot-loader logic for a loss function that optimizes over a problem space.
Bittensor uses the exact same architectural principles to enable anyone to express an incentive mechanism and unlock latent talent toward a common objective function: proof of useful utility work, directly undergirding the applications that are redefining the future of computing.
Focus on the beauty and fundamental advantage of Bittensor: Permissionless extrinsic ($TAO and corresponding alpha) incentives for producing continuously improving N dimensional digital commodities. The entire point is to create a sustainable "bootstrapped" activation energy for teams anywhere to create asymmetrical contributions without the need to get ANYONE's permission for anything... especially a VC.
Bittensor has raised zero dollars from venture capital.
Bittensor subnets are a new invention that allows meritorious participants in an open network to govern without a ruler and without money. They are merit-based, tamper-proof, open, voting systems. ... Bittensor subnet-based market networks will replace existing networks. Slowly, then suddenly. In one thing, then in many things. Ultimately, the nation-state is just a network (of networks).
The number (15+) of Bittensor-dedicated startups is growing exponentially 📈 … ! How many Bittensor competitors can remotely boast the same? Zero.
There are no direct competitors to Bittensor itself, but there are many VC-funded competitors to many Bittensor subnets ... The common pattern we observe across all of these below is pre-mine token sales (unfair distribution of economics) to VCs and no live mainnet launches on any, after years of effort and > $300M in funding.
Open beat closed before (Linux, Bitcoin), the community is full of builders, and OSS Capital has committed its own capital for ten plus years.
I think BitTensor is really, for the first time, kind of like putting a stake in the ground and saying, we should apply these same types of principles, Bitcoin with fiat currencies, Linux, with closed proprietary operating systems.
OSS Capital is committing $25M to invest exclusively in the Bittensor ecosystem. We believe Bittensor represents the most vibrant community and network focused on accelerating decentralized and truly open AI for all.
From first principles about the amount of capital and talent that you could aggregate in a decentralized permissionless system, it vastly vastly outstrips all of the big internet companies combined.
The benefit they claim, the feeling they sell, what joining says about you.
Builders get paid in TAO and alpha for useful work without permission, a job, or a fundraise; subnets let merit govern without a ruler.
You should not have to go and get a job at one of these big tech companies. You should not have to go and raise capital from a VC...you should not have to go and get someone's sign off and okay.
Focus on the beauty and fundamental advantage of Bittensor: Permissionless extrinsic ($TAO and corresponding alpha) incentives for producing continuously improving N dimensional digital commodities. The entire point is to create a sustainable "bootstrapped" activation energy for teams anywhere to create asymmetrical contributions without the need to get ANYONE's permission for anything... especially a VC.
Bittensor subnets are a new invention that allows meritorious participants in an open network to govern without a ruler and without money. They are merit-based, tamper-proof, open, voting systems. ... Bittensor subnet-based market networks will replace existing networks. Slowly, then suddenly. In one thing, then in many things. Ultimately, the nation-state is just a network (of networks).
The line they repeat and the proof they point to.
The repeated line moves from 'make AI a sustainable common good' to 'the only borderless incentive layer' to the aphorism 'Bitcoin transforms capital. Bittensor transforms capitalism.'
This last year brought on high levels of awareness and participation across a broad set of stakeholders, miners, developers, end users, speculators, analysts and researchers all working toward the same mission: make AI a sustainable common good.
Bittensor $TAO is the only borderless incentive layer for accelerating the continuously improving production of open source AI on many dimensions. This layer has already surpassed critical mass adoption by builders. It still lags cutting edge centralized open source efforts — but it will surpass those over the coming years just as open always does with closed when properly applied.
Bittensor is to capitalism what Bitcoin is to fiat.
Bitcoin transforms capital. Bittensor transforms capitalism.
Bittensor TAO is the incentive for continuously improving, humanity-owned, decentralized, permissionless, open source, open weights, open data, digital machine intelligence commodities. Across all categories of capability, including all the way to SUPERINTELLIGENCE.
Emission spend in dollars, counts of dedicated startups, subnet valuations versus startup comps (Chutes, Ridges), founder ownership under one percent, and zero venture dollars raised.
Bittensor is generating > $150M in revenue compensation for developers building AI services on the network. Growing exponentially. As a VC funded startup, it would be valued at > $15 Billion. Instead, it's a decentralized cap table for all. Trading at $2B~. Let it be known.
7,200 Bittensor $TAO tokens get emitted to the network every day until the first halving in September 2025. That's $4 million per day, $120 million per month and $1.5 billion annually. ... A whopping THIRD of these teams are earning millions of dollars every month… and the bar is still low given the nascency of Bittensor. Jump in. You're welcome.
The number (15+) of Bittensor-dedicated startups is growing exponentially 📈 … ! How many Bittensor competitors can remotely boast the same? Zero.
By example, on the first few moments of the dTAO merge a few hours ago, many subnets were trading at $10-20 billion FDVs… bringing the "total synthetic" FDV of Bittensor itself to well over $100B.
Chutes (sn64) is (currently) the top ranked #1 subnet on Bittensor with a $50M~ valuation. If Chutes were a startup, 100% of VCs would price it at a valuation somewhere between 10-20X higher.
Bittensor has raised zero dollars from venture capital.
Bittensor has accomplished 100X more with ZERO venture funding vs. all other "crypto AI" networks combined... But the world doesn't know. Bittensor sucks at engaging the conventional way — papers, conferences, etc. That's going to change.
Subnet 62 (Ridges) achieved 80% on SWE-Bench in under 45 days with minimal capital, showing Bittensor incentives unlocking efficiencies orders of magnitude beyond centralized incumbents.
OSS Capital is committing $25M to invest exclusively in the Bittensor ecosystem. We believe Bittensor represents the most vibrant community and network focused on accelerating decentralized and truly open AI for all.
Register more than claim.
Sarcastic toward critics, profane when rallying, willing to reverse himself in public and to call the network lossy and bad at outreach.
Pack it up folks. Bittensor is a scam. Looks too much like Bitcoin. 😬
Bittensor Subnet 3 (@tplr_ai) and the overall Bittensor network itself solves this … Scam Altcoin can kiss his paternalistic god mode ambitions goodbye.
I have changed my mind about Bittensor subnet owner teams mining their own network. They should. If the incentive mechanism is rigorously well designed to produce an infinitely improving commodity - and heavily resistant to exploitation.
Bittensor has accomplished 100X more with ZERO venture funding vs. all other "crypto AI" networks combined... But the world doesn't know. Bittensor sucks at engaging the conventional way — papers, conferences, etc. That's going to change.
Today, in 2025, Bittensor is akin to those early speed-of-light experiments: Clever but lossy, and very imperfect.
Jacob Steeves. The man. The myth. The legend.
I'm extremely excited about the future of this project and this is absolutely not investment advice, but you should go out and figure out how to acquire some $TAO. Then do yourself a favor and hold it forever.
I own no Bitcoin, my only massive exposure to a proof-of-useful-work token is Bittensor $TAO which will get to $100K in 1/2 the time it took $BTC. But this is a happy day. Am immensely important milestone. Bitcoin is the MOTHER of Bittensor.
How they describe their own relation to it.
An open source investor, not a crypto investor, who bought early in 2023 after initial skepticism, committed a dedicated fund, then became a builder and steward through Latent Holdings and an advisor to a TAO treasury company.
A handful of very early believers like @BarrySilbert and some others invested in the project at the very early stages of its development — I personally invested in early 2023.
OSS Capital is committing $25M to invest exclusively in the Bittensor ecosystem. We believe Bittensor represents the most vibrant community and network focused on accelerating decentralized and truly open AI for all.
We invest in open source startups exclusively. We're not really a crypto or Web 3 or like blockchain investor.
I learned about BitTensor early last year, January, February timeframe. And initially was very skeptical of BitTenser, I think, as most kind of non-crypto, non-blockchain native people tend to be
I own no Bitcoin, my only massive exposure to a proof-of-useful-work token is Bittensor $TAO which will get to $100K in 1/2 the time it took $BTC. But this is a happy day. Am immensely important milestone. Bitcoin is the MOTHER of Bittensor.
What is @TAOHash? The first and leading subnet for decentralizing PoW (proof-of-work) mining hashrate, rental and exchange. ... Bittensor itself was created after being heavily inspired by the original incentive mechanism (rewarding SHA-256 hashrate).
I'm excited to collaborate with the first and largest pure-play public TAO treasury company.
Jacob Steeves. The man. The myth. The legend.
The AI founder I'm most inspired by ... over the last year is Jake Steeves (@const_reborn), father of Bittensor. ... Instead of easily joining or founding a closed and heavily VC-funded foundation model startup, Jake decided to commit to a different path… one that would change the course of his life and, over time, everyone else's forever.
What they call things, and refuse to call them.
He coins investor-flavored terms: decentralized cap table, proof of useful utility work, synthetic FDV, stocks for ideas, incentives as a meta language, and describes incentive mechanisms as boot-loader logic for a loss function.
Bittensor is generating > $150M in revenue compensation for developers building AI services on the network. Growing exponentially. As a VC funded startup, it would be valued at > $15 Billion. Instead, it's a decentralized cap table for all. Trading at $2B~. Let it be known.
But instead of a single commodity on the network like SHA256 Hashes on Bitcoin, there's N commodities … ! Each commodity takes a slice of the network to express its "incentive mechanism" ..which is basically an arbitrarily complex program that specifies the boot-loader logic for a loss function that optimizes over a problem space.
Bittensor uses the exact same architectural principles to enable anyone to express an incentive mechanism and unlock latent talent toward a common objective function: proof of useful utility work, directly undergirding the applications that are redefining the future of computing.
By example, on the first few moments of the dTAO merge a few hours ago, many subnets were trading at $10-20 billion FDVs… bringing the "total synthetic" FDV of Bittensor itself to well over $100B.
Subnets are stocks for ideas until those ideas become reality.
Incentives transcend currencies because it's a meta language.
Who they agree with, borrow from, or argue against, with the quote that shows it.
Public appearances on the record, whether or not a quote was taken.
Something wrong or missing? Quotes are corrected as they arrive; a misattribution is removed first and argued after. How to file one · GitHub issue