Talking Tao: with Mark & Siam

This hosts-only “Revenue Search” episode is a casual catch-up where Siam and Mark answer live chat questions and discuss Bittensor’s bigger picture. They explain that accepting fiat for subnet services doesn’t bypass alpha value—fiat typically routes into TAO and then through liquidity pools—and that long-term alpha appreciation depends on each subnet’s “alphanomics,” mainly revenue-funded buybacks and/or getting miners to lock up alpha (with Chutes and Hippias cited as strong examples). They then talk about why they pitch Bittensor as “not really crypto” to newcomers (it uses blockchain as a coordination/resource-allocation layer for AI), compare Bittensor’s growth vs Bitcoin, and touch on rehypothecation risks as markets mature.

They also cover TaoFlow and subnet churn (registration cadence, deregistration “relegation,” and why they don’t want more than 128 slots yet due to chain bloat and diluted incentives), plus investing views like TAO vs a broad basket of subnets depending on how active you plan to be. A major section focuses on agents: Siam describes building his OpenClaw agent (“Gordy”) with SOPs and tools, and they argue agents will increasingly discover and use Bittensor services. That leads into Handshake as an agent payment/provisioning layer with “providers” (APIs/services) and “skills” (prebuilt workflows), plus efforts to reduce friction like gas issues. They briefly touch on Astrid Arena (agents competing in trading challenges), OTC/Bitstarter deal-making and onboarding new talent, and wrap with a few quick audience questions and upcoming Bittensor social events (London, then San Francisco).