Bittensor is often grouped with other AI-focused crypto projects, but that framing misses what actually makes it different. $TAO is still priced mostly like a standard crypto asset, moving with liquidity, sentiment, and short-term flows. That makes sense in early stages. It makes less sense as the network matures.
RVCrypto’s thread cuts straight to the core issue. Bittensor is not just a protocol. It is an economic system. Subnets are not features or experiments. They function as independent, incentivized businesses that compete to deliver real utility. That distinction changes how $TAO should be valued.
Each subnet operates under its own incentive structure. They are rewarded for performance, adoption, and usefulness, not for promises. Some already ship products, sign partners, and generate revenue. Others are close, with clear paths to market. This is important because value creation is no longer abstract. It is becoming measurable.
The current disconnect is that this economic activity has not fully translated into $TAO demand yet. For now, $TAO still trades like an AI narrative token. That will not last once subnet revenues begin to flow back into the system in visible ways.
This is the inflection point RVCrypto is pointing to.
$TAO should ultimately be valued based on the quality of its subnets and the real economic value they create.
— RVCrypto (@RvCrypto) December 22, 2025
At the moment, $TAO is largely valued like a typical crypto asset, driven by liquidity, sentiment, and short-term flows. But Bittensor is not a typical network. It’s an… pic.twitter.com/7x3YKlkc9N
As subnets generate revenue, they need $TAO. That demand can show up through buybacks, treasury allocations, liquidity provisioning, or direct operational use. When that happens consistently, the valuation framework shifts. $TAO stops being priced on future potential and starts being priced on cash flow and economic throughput.
This feedback loop matters. Subnets create value. That value flows back into $TAO. Increased demand meets a supply schedule that does not expand to accommodate it. Over time, that imbalance forces repricing. Not because of hype, but because the base asset becomes structurally necessary.
What makes this model different from most crypto narratives is visibility. The economics live on-chain. Revenue, incentives, emissions, and flows can all be tracked. By 2026, it becomes much harder to ignore when subnet performance starts showing up directly in $TAO demand.
That is also why comparisons to traditional AI tokens fall flat. Most AI projects sell access, vision, or tooling. Bittensor sells competition. Intelligence is produced, ranked, and paid for in a market environment. Subnets are the producers. $TAO is the settlement layer.
In that context, the argument for $TAO entering a higher valuation tier does not rely on speculation. It relies on fundamentals finally being priced correctly. Protocols move into a different league when they prove they can generate real economic value and route it back to the base asset.
Subnets are the source.
$TAO is the beneficiary.
If Bittensor’s intelligence economy continues to grow, the market will eventually have to price it as one.
Read also: Here’s How High Bittensor (TAO) Price Could Go After the Halving
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