The Opentensor Foundation (OTF) just released a major update regarding the future of the network, revealing that Bittensor is moving from a foundation-led project to a fully decentralized, “unstoppable” organism. In this Novelty Search presentation, the OTF’s CEO, Const, announced he is officially stepping down as CEO of the Foundation.

But the bigger story is the strategic shift: decentralizing the physical chain nodes and implementing a radical new governance system to ensure the network remains censorship-resistant against government pressure, while giving subnet owners and validators direct control over the protocol.

One Year of Dynamic TAO (dTAO): What Worked, What Broke, and What the Market Fixed

Bittensor’s Dynamic TAO (dTAO) has officially hit its one-year mark, and the community used the milestone to reflect on what has been the most chaotic but productive era in the network’s history. Const described the launch as a major leap: a blockchain with one token suddenly expanded into a system of 128 subnet tokens, instantly creating open markets around emissions and incentives. That shift pushed Bittensor from a low-liquidity environment into a high-liquidity regime, with millions dollars in daily volume and tens of thousands of TAO traded daily.

As expected, the first year came with heavy turbulence. Const acknowledged that nearly every predicted downside happened: ponzi-style subnets, rug pulls, and financial schemes emerged as the cost of running a fully permissionless system. But he argued that the market responded exactly as it should. The community called out scams, subnets improved their tokenomics, and teams learned how to manage sell pressure by refining incentives and emissions design. In Const’s view, dTAO proved that markets can allocate TAO far more efficiently than centralized decision-making, and that the network is now significantly stronger than it was a year ago.

Chain Nodes: From Foundation Control to Community Ownership

For the past few years, the Opentensor Foundation (OTF) has effectively run the blockchain. They funded the development, maintained the infrastructure, and ran the chain nodes that process transactions. While the mining was decentralized, the chain itself was centralized under OTF’s control.

The team realized this creates a central point of failure. If a government or nefarious actor wanted to stop Bittensor, they currently only need to target the Foundation or its nodes.

So they are shifting to a Nominated Proof of Stake (NPoS) model. OTF is giving up control of the nodes. Over the next six months, the responsibility for running the chain will move to third-party organizations and eventually to a fully permissionless network of incentivized node operators. This removes the “kill switch” that currently exists at the Foundation level.

The Governance Machine: Triumvirate and The Two Houses

Here’s how the new governance system works. Instead of the Foundation deciding on upgrades, power is split between a “Triumvirate” and the network’s stakeholders.

The Triumvirate consists of three seats. These members are not elected through campaigns; they are selected randomly based on block height (blind voting) from the top subnet owners and validators. This prevents politics and lobbying. Their job is to initially ratify proposals.

Once ratified, proposals go to what are effectively two “houses”: the Subnet Owners (top ~64) and the Validators (top ~12).

If 50% of either group votes “Nay,” the upgrade is blocked or delayed. This system is designed to favor stability; it’s easy to stop bad changes but requires consensus to pass new ones.

Immediate Utility: The “Scam” Kill Switch

While full governance will roll out over 2026, the first “product” of this new system is launching immediately: the ability for the community to vote to cut emissions to specific subnets.

Const explicitly mentioned that certain subnets, specifically citing SN104 and SN120, are “extracting” value without contributing to the network.

Within the next month, the community will be able to vote to strip these subnets of their funding (Tao emission) and redirect that capital to productive teams. This creates a self-policing immune system where the community can actively defend itself against bad actors rather than waiting for the Foundation to intervene.

Const’s Strategic Pivot

Const announced he is no longer the boss of OTF. He cannot dictate rules to developers or control the validators.

However, he clarified he is not leaving the ecosystem. Instead, he is moving from “referee” to “player.” He plans to mine, build subnets, and code without the legal and administrative burdens of running the Foundation.

He framed this as the ultimate goal of a crypto founder: to build a game successful enough that you can step down and play it yourself.

The Resistance Argument

The presentation emphasized that this overhaul is a defense mechanism. The team acknowledged that Bittensor is now “under the eye of governments” who may want to stop or control AI development.

By decentralizing the chain nodes and removing the CEO, they are making the network “unshutable.” Even if a government forces the Foundation to close, the network continues to run because the code, the nodes, and the governance are distributed globally among thousands of anonymous individuals.

What This Actually Proves

The Governance update matters because it signals that Bittensor is transitioning from a startup to a sovereign protocol.

They are removing the biggest risk factor: centralization. They are empowering the top performing teams (Subnet Owners) with actual legislative power. They are implementing transaction fees (estimated at millions of dollars annually) to pay for infrastructure that was previously subsidized.

This addresses the main criticism of “fairness” in the ecosystem. Power is no longer held by a benevolent dictator but is being transferred to the people who have proven their value by building the top subnets and validators.