Bittensor tokenomics and Dynamic TAO
- There will never be more than 21 million TAO; about τ3,600 are created each day and sent to subnets.
- Each subnet has its own token (alpha), traded against TAO in a pool: the market sets each subnet's value.
- Inside a subnet, rewards are split: 41% to miners, 41% to validators and their stakers, 18% to the team (owner).
Where TAO comes from
Like Bitcoin, TAO has a supply capped at 21 million. New TAO is created every block (every ~12 seconds): 0.5 TAO per block since the first halving on December 14, 2025. That TAO doesn't go to a company: it is handed out to subnets. Recycled TAO (registration fees for example) goes back to the reserve, which slows creation down.
One token per subnet: Dynamic TAO
Since February 2025 ("Dynamic TAO"), every subnet has its own token, called alpha. You buy it with TAO in a pool specific to the subnet: it's a bit as if every AI service had its own stock. The more people buy a subnet's alpha, the higher its price. Together, the 128 subnets are worth τ3.77M today ($1.05B). Each alpha is also capped at 21 million.
Who gets the new TAO
Every block, new TAO is shared between subnets and paid into their pools. Today, a subnet gets more the more its token is valued by the market. The ones receiving the most right now:
The split inside a subnet: 41 / 41 / 18
Each subnet also creates its own alpha and hands it out about every 72 minutes:
Buybacks, burns and locks
Teams can support their token: buy it back and destroy it (buyback & burn), simply destroy it (burn) or lock their own alpha to show they won't sell. All of this is public on the blockchain, and we track it on every subnet page.
Going further: the technical details
Every block, TAO is injected into the pools together with newly created alpha, so emissions alone don't move prices.
The rule for sharing between subnets has changed: February 2025, by average alpha price; November 2025 ("Taoflow"), by net TAO flows (staking minus unstaking); June 2026, back to a model based on average alpha price.
Miners are scored through Yuma Consensus. Root proportion is the share of validator dividends that goes to root stakers (subnet 0); it averages 23.9% today and is shown on every subnet page. The owner share is the on-chain SubnetOwnerCut.