The post Bittensor (TAO) Plunges 30% Amid Centralization Allegations Against Co-Founder appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

TLDR Covenant AI announced its departure from Bittensor on April 8, citing centralized control by co-founder Jacob Steeves TAO plummeted approximately 25–30% from weekly peaks, sliding from $337 down to the $249–$253 range More than $650 million in market capitalization evaporated, accompanied by $9.1 million in liquidated long positions Daily trading activity exploded to $1.72 billion on April 10, compared to roughly $500 million seen in early April Chart patterns suggest TAO could face an additional 25–45% correction toward the $144–$230 support zone The Bittensor network’s native cryptocurrency TAO experienced a dramatic selloff this week following explosive allegations from a prominent subnet operator targeting the project’s leadership structure. Bittensor (TAO) Price On April 8, Covenant AI declared its complete withdrawal from the Bittensor platform. Two days later, the company’s founder Sam Dare published an extensive explanation detailing the rationale behind this decision. Dare’s statement accused Jacob Steeves, one of Bittensor’s co-founders, of maintaining unilateral authority over the protocol’s operations. This assertion stands in stark opposition to Bittensor’s fundamental value proposition as a decentralized, permissionless AI infrastructure where competing subnets operate autonomously. According to Dare’s claims, Steeves independently halted emission distributions to a subnet, overruled subnet administrators within their designated governance channels, and eliminated projects without adhering to documented procedures. Very poor news in the $TAO ecosystem, as one of the largest subnets has decided to rugpull their own token and leave the ecosystem. The upside and downside of permissionless ecosystems, through which founders and protocols are free to leave and join whenever they can.… https://t.co/hZefa4Qb6w — Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) April 10, 2026 Perhaps most damaging was Dare’s assertion that Steeves weaponized substantial, public token liquidations as “retaliatory” mechanisms to enforce compliance during disagreements. “These weren’t governance actions executed through open consensus mechanisms,” Dare stated. “They represented unilateral decisions…

---

Filed under: News - @ April 11, 2026 7:28 am