TLDR;

• Highlights of the Week: Stillcore Capital launches a TAO-focused fund, compute subnets hit ~$20M ARR, and a major chain upgrade reintroduces subnet registration/deregistration with new mechanics.

• New Subnets: Minotaur (DEX aggregator), Aurelius (AI alignment), Tenex (leveraged trading), and Rich Kids of TAO (wealth-based rewards) go live.

• Ecosystem & Research: Ridges outperforms Anthropic in SWE-bench, Bittensor research accepted to NeurIPS, Crucible adds Ledger support, and Yuma partners with Yield/Utila.

• Subnet Updates: SN10 activates fee buybacks as Swap, SN20 rebrands as Bounty Hunter, SN34 launches a jackpot model, and SN106 expands cross-chain.

• Media & Events: Strong coverage across Proof of Talk, TAO Pod, and blocmates, plus upcoming community gatherings at Token2049 in Singapore.

Highlights of the Week

⚡️ Stillcore Capital has officially launched as a new Bittensor-focused fund, led by Mark Jeffrey, Rob Greer, and Jason Calacanis, with a mandate to invest in TAO and subnet alpha tokens.

Their thesis is that Bittensor represents a generational opportunity comparable to Bitcoin in 2013 or Ethereum in its early years where fundamentals have exploded while price lags. Stillcore sees TAO and subnet tokens as venture-scale startups, aiming to capture value through selective exposure to “blue-chip” subnets and liquid venture positioning.

With a long-term horizon, the fund is targeting ownership of ~1% of TAO’s liquid supply while backing the ecosystem’s breakout winners.

⚡️ Seth from Unsupervised Capital released a research piece on compute-focused subnets: Chutes, Targon, and Lium. Highlighted in the report are revenue statistics showing they’ve collectively scaled to ~$20M ARR within just three months of monetization, capturing nearly 20% of network emissions.

Each team has carved out its niche with Chutes powering app developers, Targon securing enterprise workloads with confidential compute, and Lium dominating high-end GPU rentals. All three teams have introduced buyback programs to reinforce alpha token value as revenues grow.

⚡️ The latest chain upgrade introduces three major features reshaping the network:

• Subnet Deregistration: Registration reopens (2,000 TAO, 1 every 4 days, 128-cap). Underperforming subnets (lowest EMA price, out of 4-month immunity) are pruned, with alpha holders redeemed from TAO in the pool.

• Subnet UID Pruning: Owners can now reduce active UIDs (e.g., 256 → 128), kicking lowest performers and concentrating emissions.

• Subnet Mechanisms (“Sub-subnets”): Subnet owners can split emissions across multiple projects, letting miners allocate resources and earn weighted incentives.

This upgrade brings fresh competition, tighter resource allocation, and new flexibility for subnet owners.

New Subnets, Subnet & Ecosystem Updates, Research, & Media ⬇️