Bittensor uses token prices to decide how much each AI subnet earns Bittensor runs on subnets, separate groups that each compete to supply one kind of AI service. The chain creates new $TAO every 12 seconds and splits it among them. Each subnet has its own token, and its share of the payout tracks that token's average price. Demand for its work feeds into what it earns. Price is not the whole story. The code passes the result through a gate that sharply cuts weaker subnets' shares, and a new subnet starts near zero for about four weeks, blunting launch pumps. Inside each subnet, 18% of the payout goes to its owner, 41% to the miners doing the work, and 41% to validators and their stakers, per @opentensor's documentation.