30s Summary

Digital Currency Group (DCG) CEO Barry Silbert believes Bittensor, a network leveraging decentralized AI to reward users contributing data and computer power, could be transformative. Programmed through DCG affiliate Yuma, Bittensor contributors can earn the network’s native $TAO token. Silbert describes Bittensor as the World Wide Web for AI, maintaining it avoids tech giants accumulating too much power. Yuma, acting as parent to Bittensor, plans to launch and manage new blockchain processes, or subnets, and develop start-ups interested in Bittensor.

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Barry Silbert, the boss of DCG and CEO of Yuma, reckons Bittensor could be as game-changing as bitcoin. Yuma’s mission is to fast-track start-ups hoping to dive into Bittensor while also teaming up to create subnets.

The Digital Currency Group, a big player in cryptocurrencies and digital assets, is now getting into AI. But this isn’t just run-of-the-mill AI, it’s the decentralized variety that powers the Bittensor ecosystem.

Running the show is Barry Silbert and his new outfit, Yuma. Their goal is to hatch and build new businesses that leverage decentralized AI to accomplish tasks and earn rewards.

At its heart, Bittensor is a decentralized AI network that rewards people for contributing data and computer power to tasks like text translation, data storage, and even predicting complex protein chains.

It seems that everyone has a different take on what Bittensor is. According to Silbert, an early cryptocurrency investor and enthusiast, Bittensor is like the World Wide Web for AI.

Sure, AI has loads of potential, but it could give too much power to tech giants like Microsoft, Facebook, and Google who are hoovering up user data. This is where decentralized AI comes in – it could tap into unused computational resources while also clearing up some of the sketchy aspects associated with tech.

Bittensor’s own crypto, $TAO, dangles the carrot for decentralized workers who want to use their advanced computing smarts for tasks and earn rewards.

DCG has been interested in AI for a while, making its first investment into Bittensor in 2021. Recently, DCG’s asset management company, Grayscale, rolled out funds dedicated to AI, including the $TAO token. Silbert thinks so much of the project, he’s taking on the CEO role at Yuma, which will have around 25 employees from the get-go.

Yuma is basically the parent company to Bittensor, kind of like Joe Lubin’s Consensys model was to Ethereum. However, instead of owning all the subnets under Yuma’s control, it’s aiming for an accelerator-meets-venture capital firm vibe.

Yuma hopes to help start-ups and enterprises interested in Bittensor to launch a subnet and also partner with others to create new subnets from scratch. Yuma already has five live subnets, plus another nine in the pipeline set to launch soon.

Evan Malanga, Yuma’s top revenue guy, says they’ve got a nice mix of use cases including bot detection, time series prediction, AI research, security, role-play, and sports predictions.