Bittensor activates eTAO, letting subnet owners set their own emission splits
The upgrade replaces the fixed 18/41/41 split of subnet alpha between owners, validators and miners with owner-set allocations within limits.
AI & CRYPTO
Hana Kimura
10/20/20261 min read
Bittensor, the decentralized AI network, activated a protocol update called eTAO on October 20. It lets subnet owners customize how newly issued subnet alpha tokens are divided among owners, validators and miners. The OpenTensor Foundation said existing subnets keep their current split until owners choose to change it, and that eTAO does not change the total alpha a subnet receives.
Until now every subnet used the same allocation: 18% to owners, 41% to validators and their stakers, and 41% to miners. Under eTAO, owners can take between 0% and 33%, while leased subnets must keep at least 18% for the owner. Validators can receive up to 50%, subject to a variable minimum, and miners must receive at least 33%. Splits can be adjusted roughly every seven days.
The variable validator minimum is designed to protect the root network, where TAO itself is staked, so that root stakers keep their baseline share. In one example cited by Foresight News, an owner keeps 18%, gives validators 20% and raises the miner share to 62%. When the validator share falls from 41% to 20%, the effective TAO weight can rise from 18% to 43.9%, so the root network still receives about 5.4% of subnet emissions.
Source: KuCoin News (Foresight News), CoinMarketCal.