Bittensor co-founder denies suspending subnet emissions after Covenant AI exit

Jacob Steeves, co-founder of Bittensor, pushed back Friday against allegations from a major subnet developer that he abused his position to force the project off the platform.

In a post on X, Steeves denied he can suspend subnet emissions, directly contradicting on of the claims made a day earlier by Covenant AI founder Sam Dare. Dare announced Thursday that Covenant AI was leaving Bittensor, accusing Steeves of operating what Dare called “decentralization theatre” while maintaining effective control over the network’s governance.

Dare alleged in a Thursday statement that Steeves took four specific actions against Covenant AI: suspending emissions to its subnets, removing the team’s moderation capabilities over its community channels, unilaterally deprecating its subnet infrastructure, and applying economic pressure through large, visible token sales timed to operational conflicts.

Steeves addressed each claim individually.

“I do not have the ability to suspend emissions,” Steeves wrote. He said he sold some of his “alpha holdings” on Covenant AI’s three subnets because they were not running and were operating on near 100% burn code. Steeves said this changed emissions the same way all buys and sells on Bittensor do, adding: “I don’t have any privilege beyond what normal TAO holders have.”

Regarding Discord moderation, Steeves said Dare himself deprecated his own channels via a pinned comment and an X post. Steeves acknowledged he temporarily stopped Dare from deleting posts in his channel, stating Dare was removing “genuine, honest criticism.” Steeves said he reinstated the ability later and did not remove Dare’s moderator role.

On the claim of “deprecating infrastructure,” Steeves wrote: “Not even sure what this one means.”

On token sales, Steeves said the sales were “not large” and amounted to less than 1% of what he had invested in Dare’s teams. “Visibility is impossible to avoid in my position,” Steeves wrote. “I reserve my right to buy and sell tokens which is what underpins the entire system of dTao.”

Steeves did not address Dare’s broader claim that Bittensor’s governance structure is a facade, nor did he respond to Dare’s assertion that Steeves maintains effective control over the three-person multisig for network upgrades.

The price of Bittensor’s TAO (TAO) token fell 15% Thursday following Covenant AI’s announcement, dropping to a low of $285 from $338 within two hours, according to The Block’s TAO price page. The token recovered to $294 but later slumped to around $262. TAO currently sits more than 65% below its all-time high of $757 set in April 2024.