Bittensor (TAO) Price Soars 5% on Network Upgrades and DeFi Growth
The Bittensor (TAO) cryptocurrency price rose 4.96% to $207.09, outperforming a flat Bitcoin, due to growing ecosystem activity and increasing social sentiment around network upgrades.
The growth is attributed to the subnet ecosystem's renewed confidence in Bittensor's protocol upgrades, including the launch of new DeFi primitives like MentatLend, which allows TAO holders to supply liquidity and Alpha holders to borrow TAO without selling their subnet exposure.
Mentat Lend has launched its first market for Score, a Bittensor Subnet 44, allowing users to deposit TAO to earn lending yield or post staked SN44 Alpha as collateral to borrow TAO.
Analysts point out that the protocol's core argument is that Bittensor already prices subnet ownership but lacks a native way to price credit, and upcoming upgrades will focus on emissions for quality subnets.
The dominant narrative on social media frames TAO's rise as a 'fundamental re-rating' toward institutional infrastructure, citing factors like Grayscale fund weighting, which helped fuel retail and algorithmic buying interest.