The idea behind Bittensor took shape in the mind of Jacob Steeves, who earned a degree in mathematics and computer science at Simon Fraser University, then worked at Google from 2016 to 2018 on AI and distributed computing. He began formalizing the concept in 2019, in early material published under the pseudonym “Yuma Rao” — inspired by Bitcoin's core insight: if a decentralized network can coordinate strangers and distribute value without a central authority, the same principle could, in theory, apply to artificial intelligence.
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Ala Shaabana (PhD in Computer Science, McMaster University, later an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto specializing in deep learning and AI systems) joined as co-founder.
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2021: the project formalizes under the Toronto-based Opentensor Foundation; the first testnet (“Kusanagi”) launches in early 2021.
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November 1, 2021: the network relaunches under the name “Nakamoto” (a homage to Bitcoin) — generally considered the actual mainnet launch, with the TAO token created at this point.
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March 2023: a strategic pivot — the project had originally planned to launch as a Polkadot parachain, but switched to its own standalone blockchain (Subtensor), with a unique “Proof of Intelligence” consensus mechanism.
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February 2025: the “dTAO” upgrade fundamentally reshapes token issuance distribution — instead of a small number of large validators controlling capital allocation, pure market forces now determine how much TAO issuance each “AI subnet” (a specialized marketplace for a given AI task) receives, based on that subnet's own token's relative price.
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December 15, 2025: the first halving event — daily issuance drops from 7,200 to 3,600 TAO, and the block reward from 1 TAO to 0.5 TAO, following a Bitcoin-like schedule toward a fixed final supply of 21 million.
Bittensor deliberately launched without capital raising — no ICO, no venture-capital token allocation, no insider grants — a “fair launch” philosophy in the same spirit as Monero or Dogecoin, just applied here to decentralized AI infrastructure.