Key Points
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There are a handful of different mechanisms that drive demand for Bittensor’s native token.
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Its Bitcoin-like supply policy also ensures that its supply is tight.
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Its potential for big growth is real, but it’s key to keep expectations in check.
Bittensor (CRYPTO: TAO) has one of the more interesting pitches in crypto. It’s a decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) training services marketplace with a supply schedule lifted from Bitcoin, and it has a market cap around $2.4 billion, chasing a slice of AI’s hundred-billion-dollar narrative.
But could this coin make investors into millionaires if it succeeds in what it’s setting out to do?
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Utility is the name of the game here
Bittensor is a network of more than 128 subnets, which you can think of as mini-businesses where miners contribute the computing power that’s necessary to provide AI-related services to users. The network itself has a native token, TAO, and the subnets each have “alpha tokens,” which are exchangeable for TAO. Some alpha tokens are required to pay for services, and many have different tokenomics, as well as varying uses within their subnets.
TAO is thus the universal entry currency for accessing the services hosted on Bittensor, and the network consumes it in several ways.
Subnet owners need to burn some TAO to register, while both miners and validators (who check the output of miners) pay TAO to claim participant slots on subnets. Furthermore, investors can stake their TAO to a specific subnet, locking it up in exchange for a yield that’s delivered in the form of a payment in that subnet’s alpha tokens. So TAO’s odds of dramatically appreciating in value are inextricably linked to the usefulness of its subnets, as judged by both users and investors.
Much like Bitcoin, TAO has a 21 million hard cap on its supply, and halvings approximately every four years. When paired with the chain’s built-in mechanisms for burning TAO and absorbing its supply, there could ultimately be some significant and potentially long-term upward price pressure.
The math does not look favorable
Now that you’re up to speed on the economics underpinning Bittensor, let’s turn to the question of whether an investment in it is capable of making anyone rich.
At a $2.4 billion market cap, TAO would need to reach roughly $240 billion for a very large position worth $10,000 to become $1 million. For a more reasonably sized $1,000 starting stake, the required valuation climbs to $2.4 trillion. Unfortunately, the improbably large amounts of growth that would be required will almost certainly never happen, which means Bittensor is not likely to be a millionaire-maker cryptocurrency.
With that said, Bittensor could still see a lot of growth from here. While there isn’t necessarily strong evidence that its decentralized AI training services will be consistently in demand, one of the big advantages of its subnet ecosystem is that there are many different potential business models that could one day drive demand for TAO. And with its Bitcoin-like supply schedule, over time there’s likely to be a lot of upside for the investors who can stomach the risk of buying and holding it.
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Alex Carchidi has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Bittensor. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.