Gordon Frayne hosted the co-directors of Bittensor Commons, the company behind Exploit Summit 2026, the flagship community-organized event happening in Montreal on September 28 and 29.
The event grew out of a dinner at a TOKEN2049 side event during an Asia tour, and is now the largest Bittensor-native gathering of the year.
The event is deliberately builder-focused, with debates replacing panels, keynotes from core protocol figures, live subnet demos, an academic research track, and side events built around Montreal’s food scene and community.
Excerpts From the Livestream
The session moved through origin, city selection, format choices, agenda highlights, and the specific reasons Montreal made sense as the location.
1. Exploit Summit runs September 28-29 in Montreal: Downtown venue with concert-grade production, community-organized under Bittensor Commons rather than run by a corporate brand.
2. The event was born at a Singapore TOKEN2049 side dinner: During Const’s Asia tour last fall, the two organizers sat across from each other at a Bittensor community dinner and decided the ecosystem needed more organized in-person moments. Bittensor Commons emerged from that conversation.
3. Montreal was chosen for its AI heritage and Bittensor roots: McGill University, University of Montreal, and Mila (founded by Professor Yoshua Bengio) sit in the same city where Bittensor itself was founded. The organizers extended invitations to key figures from those institutions.
4. Travel discounts land the ticket well below San Francisco costs: Air Canada is offering up to 12% off flights, and Hotel Alt Montréal is offering 35% off rooms, five minutes’ walk from the venue. Everything is priced in Canadian dollars.
5. Builder-focused, not investor-price focused: The organizers made it clear the event is about protocol, subnets, and product rather than token price commentary. Retail investors are still welcome, but the event is themed as an Nvidia-style builder conference rather than a crypto price panel.
6. Debates replace panels as the featured format: Two are announced; Research versus Revenue pits a subnet founder against another ecosystem voice on whether the network should chase scientific breakthroughs or maximize near-term revenue.
Protocol Development: Too Fast or Too Slow tackles whether Bittensor’s iteration pace is helping or hurting the startups building on top of it, made timely by V440’s arrival this week.
7. Keynotes anchor the technical program: Const will deliver a Bittensor State of the Union to open the event. Chutes (SN64)’ founder, Jon Durbin, will present on Parallax, marking a live-stage debut for the training framework.
8. Live demos are on-brand for the “Exploit” name: Bitsec (SN60) will demonstrate its product finding exploits in other subnets on stage. The event would also feature sessions from NOVA (SN68), and the Macrocosmos team will cover progress on Orion, the 16B training run currently live on IOTA (SN9).
9. Bitstarter runs a live subnet crowdfund from the stage: ML project pitches, panel of judges, and a public crowd fund for a subnet slot. Applications are already open, giving non-native attendees a real on-ramp setup into subnet ownership without the full slot cost.
10. An academic track covers incentive mechanism research: Papers on incentive design and the Bittensor protocol are being accepted now, with the goal of growing this into an ongoing research program the ecosystem can point to over time.
The event begins with a Bittensor pub quiz on September 27, followed by a community party after the keynote day. Fireside chats round out the schedule, including a quantum-focused session featuring leading voices from the quantum computing world.
See You in Montreal
Exploit Summit was built around one principle: less sitting, more building and networking, reflecting the feedback organizers received after their San Francisco event.
The name “Exploit Summit” embraces the reality that exploiting weak incentive mechanisms is how Bittensor subnets become stronger and more resilient.
Registration is now open, sponsorship opportunities are available, and whether you come for the Bittensor or the smoked meat sandwiches, you’ll leave with both.
Right now, The TAO Daily is offering 30% off ticket prices when you use TAODAILY30 as an access code for purchase (valid till August 10).
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