Bittensor’s TAO Rallies Ahead of Smart Contracts Launch

Bittensor’s native token, TAO, has been one of the top-performing altcoins over the last two weeks as the network gears up for network upgrades, including Ethereum smart contracts and EVM compatibility.

TAO is up 32% over the last seven days and 70% over the last 14 days, surging as high as $425 from $250. Despite the market-wide bounce, other AI-focused blockchains, such as NEAR Protocol, are up just 1.8% in the same period.

Bittensor (TAO) is one of the largest AI projects by market capitalization, with a fully diluted valuation of $8.5 billion, and is a decentralized Layer 1 network that consists of different subnets, which incentivize problem-solving with TAO emissions.

Smart Contracts

In a video posted on Sept. 15, the Opentensor Foundation stated, “We are pushing the Ethereum contracts to the chain pretty soon…we will be able to have contracts on the Bittensor blockchain fairly soon, which will be really positive for trustless cross-chain bridges, (and) also for more hierarchical designs on top of the subnets.”

During a Bittensor meetup at Token2049, members of the foundation discussed upcoming EVM compatibility. After the event, @Xponentcrisis of Tensorplex Labs said, “The introduction of EVMs is great for DeFi…but more importantly, subnet operators will unlock an additional layer of orchestration to enable them to push their ideas further - this is something subnets will need to think about.”

These latest developments also have investment funds excited.

Daniel Cheung, co-founder of Syncracy Capital, said, “The gap between what people think Bittensor is and what it actually is has never been wider...The premier AI L1 is coming to life.”

The statement sparked debate on social media, including commentary from the CEO of Grayscale, Barry Silbert. “It is going to surprise a lot of people and will be obvious in hindsight,” said Silbert, whose firm recently launched a single-asset TAO fund and a Decentralized AI Fund, which includes tokens such as TAO, NEAR, LPT, RNDR and FIL.