The Bittensor network, $TAO, has completed a major mainnet upgrade on September 11, 2025, just months before its anticipated token halving event.
Author: Sahil Thakur
The Bittensor network, $TAO, has completed a major mainnet upgrade on September 11, 2025, just months before its anticipated token halving event. The update introduces key changes to staking mechanics, burn parameters, and fee logic, marking another step in Opentensor’s roadmap to decentralization.
This latest upgrade is not backward-compatible, meaning node operators were required to update to SDK version 9.9.0+ or risk falling out of consensus. The changes target multiple pain points that users and developers had flagged over the past few months.
Here are the core updates:
This upgrade tightens the protocol’s economic layer ahead of its first halving, expected by late 2025 once 10.5M TAO are mined. With daily emissions at 7,200 TAO and ~9.8M already circulating, the network is nearing this milestone.
The new auto-staking option could push staking ratios even higher than the current 81%, reducing available supply and potentially impacting price dynamics. Moreover, fee and burn adjustments aim to make the protocol more user-friendly, especially for subnet developers and node runners.
The upgrade also increases momentum for the broader ecosystem. Subnets like Ridges AI (SN62) and Chutes (SN64) can now operate with lower friction. Meanwhile, newer entrants such as FlameWire (SN97) are experimenting with native TAO payments, which could expand real-world use cases.
Reaction on X has been broadly positive. Many in the TAO community welcomed the changes, especially those related to ease of use and gas efficiency. Node operators also appreciated the clear documentation and pre-announcement notices shared on the Opentensor GitHub and Discord.
Crucially, no major outages were reported during or after the upgrade rollout. This indicates a mature dev cycle and tight coordination across the ecosystem, something Bittensor has been praised for, especially since its Dynamic TAO (dTAO) upgrade earlier this year.
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