Why Bittensor (TAO) is pumping so hard?

Bittensor’s native token, TAO, kicked off the week with a surge of around 30% in the last 24 hours. TAO regained the much anticipated $550 mark after months of trading below the $450 level. The surge came in when the US’s Vice President, Kamala Harris, landed some positive remarks about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and crypto at a Wall Street fundraiser.

Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group (DCG), recently showed his interest in Bittensor over social media. However, Grayscale investments had already made their move toward TAO, suggesting something special coming up for the token.

Bittensor’s TAO jumps to $550

TAO price spike has made it the biggest gainer of the day among the biggest 100 cryptos. The fresh surge of over 28% has contributed to a staggering 90% increase over the past week and 1,020% in the last year.

Bittensor is trading at an average price of $554, at press time. Meanwhile, it is still down by 27% from its all time high (ATH) of $767.68, recorded on April 11, 2024. Its 24 hour trading volume has jumped by 62% to stand at $316 million. TAO is holding a market cap of $4.07 billion.

This massive surge is coupled with several positive comments and moves coming out of some major industry leaders and politicians. Barry Silbert retweeted a post on X where Wayne Vaughan highlighted that he’s exploring Bittensor.

Vaughan in the X post wrote that he is strictly looking at the Bittensor tech and not evaluating it as an investment. He mentioned that it distributes AI training across a network of computers, whereas well-known models like ChatGPT are relying on massive GPU clusters in large data centers.

“I’m exploring BitTensor, a decentralized network for training AI models. I’m strictly looking at the tech, I’m not evaluating it as an investment.

BitTensor distributes AI training across a network of computers, whereas well-known models like ChatGPT rely on massive GPU…”

— Wayne Vaughan (@WayneVaughan) September 21, 2024

He added that BTLM-3B-8K is Bittensor’s most advanced model. It comes with 3 billion parameters and training on 627 billion tokens. On the other hand, ChatGPT-4 (GPT-4 40B) has over 40 billion parameters and was likely trained on up to 3 trillion tokens. This makes it roughly an order of magnitude more powerful than BTLM.

AI crypto gains momentum

Overall AI linked cryptocurrencies had a pumping beginning for the week as the US VP Kamala Harris at a Wall Street fundraiser stated that the authority will encourage innovative technologies like AI and digital assets while protecting consumers and investors. This is the first time Harris has directly addressed crypto during her campaign. Her remarks hint at a shift from Biden’s lukewarm stance.

Harris also pointed out the need for clear regulations to create a safe environment for businesses. She’s looking to cut unnecessary bureaucracy and invest in sectors like semiconductors. The cumulative AI crypto category recorded a surge of over 7% in the last 24 hours with a market cap topping at $36.45 billion.