Accelerating DeFi on Bittensor With taoUSD
DeFi is now open on Bittensor.
Hyperlane is live Bittensor EVM, enabling developers to bridge assets, integrate smart contracts, and build interchain applications on the decentralized AI network.
TaoFi, an initiative to bring DeFi products to Bittensor, has launched a Hyperlane-powered stablecoin bridge that lets users deposit USDC on Ethereum to mint taoUSD, Bittensor’s first native stablecoin.
Bridge Now ⏩ https://www.taofi.com/bridge
But first — what is Bittensor and why does it matter in the first place?
What is Bittensor?
Bittensor is a decentralized AI development platform that operates through a network of communities called Subnets. Each subnet focuses on specific AI tasks like inference or training, where miners compete to perform tasks while validators evaluate and reward the best performers with TAO tokens. All balances, transactions, and subnet operations are recorded and tracked on Subtensor, Bittensor’s core blockchain.
The Bittensor EVM
To expand developer accessibility, Bittensor added EVM support in October 2024, allowing developers to deploy and interact with EVM smart contracts on Subtensor. Yet there was one key missing piece: the ability to connect with other chains.
Unlike standard EVM chains, Subtensor operates with no native bridge, and offers a non-traditional approach to smart contract functionality. This unique architecture makes it challenging for most interoperability solutions to support Subtensor and the broader Bittensor ecosystem — but not all. Thanks to the flexibility of Hyperlane’s open framework, it was successfully deployed on Subtensor, laying the foundations for connecting Bittensor to the broader multichain landscape.
TaoFi: A New Financial Layer For Bittensor
To make Bittensor a true hub for decentralized AI, it needs strong financial infrastructure. While TAO tokens help coordinate miners and validators across subnets, the ecosystem still lacks DeFi primitives to support greater economic activity. This drove contributors from Sturdy Finance and Bittensor Subnet 10 to form TaoFi — a suite of foundational DeFi products for staking, lending, and liquidity on Bittensor.
To drive ecosystem growth, TaoFi needed a way to easily onboard users to the Bittensor ecosystem — and so they built the first stablecoin bridge connecting Ethereum to the Bittensor EVM. And thus taoUSD — the first Bittensor-native stablecoin — was born.
taoUSD: The Stablecoin For The Bittensor Economy
taoUSD is a new stablecoin for the Bittensor ecosystem, powered by Hyperlane. Anyone can now bridge stablecoin liquidity to the Bittensor ecosystem by simply depositing USDC on Ethereum and minting taoUSD at a 1:1 rate on Subtensor.
At launch, the taoUSD bridge will be capped at $10 million TVL, and will expand as user demand grows. In the future, taoUSD will be integrated with Hyperlane Yield Routes, allowing users to earn passive yield on their bridged USDC.
- Explore DeFi on Bittensor ⏩ taofi.com/bridge
Why taoUSD?
Stablecoins are the backbone of any successful DeFi ecosystem. They provide a stable medium unit of exchange, enable lending and borrowing, and help deepen ecosystem liquidity. As a core pillar of TaoFi, taoUSD extends these benefits to the growing Bittensor ecosystem, bringing in new liquidity and unlocking opportunities to build new financial primitives for decentralized AI.
Ok, I’ve Got taoUSD — Now What?
Once taoUSD has been minted on Bittensor EVM, taoUSD holders can use TaoFi Swap to:
- Swap for sTAO, a liquid staked version of TAO that earns yield and can be redeemed for TAO at any time.
- Provide liquidity to the sTAO<>taoUSD liquidity pool to earn swapping fees.
As builders on Bittensor explore and innovate with new DeFi primitives, taoUSD provides a foundational liquidity layer to build on.
Interoperability For Everyone, Everywhere
With Hyperlane live on Bittensor EVM, developers can bridge stablecoin liquidity, deploy EVM smart contracts, and build interchain applications on Bittensor’s growing ecosystem. TaoFi is the first to capitalize on this opportunity, taking advantage of Hyperlane’s flexibility to build the first stablecoin bridge to the Bittensor ecosystem.
What exactly allows Hyperlane to connect new VMs and ecosystems like Bittensor so efficiently?
- Fully Open and Customizable: Whether its choosing which assets to bridge, which bridging mechanism to use, or how their cross-chain transactions are secured, developers have full control over their interop stack with Hyperlane. TaoFi was able to build a custom Warp Route dedicated to locking USDC on Ethereum, and minting taoUSD on Subtensor.
- Future-Proof: Hyperlane is built on a modular architecture, meaning developers can easily upgrade their interop stack with new parts as they see fit. For instance, if a new standard for cross-chain security emerges for Bittensor, TaoFi can easily integrate it without rewriting their codebase.
- Permissionless: Once Hyperlane is deployed on a new environment like Subtensor, any of the 140+ chains in the Hyperlane ecosystem can now start connecting to the Bittensor ecosystem, at their own pace while maintaining their own security preferences.
As the first interoperability solution supporting Bittensor EVM, Hyperlane is central to onboarding new users and developers into Bittensor’s growing ecosystem.
Bittensor Expansion.
Explore DeFi on Bittensor today: taofi.com/bridge
More about Hyperlane
Hyperlane is the open interoperability framework. It empowers developers to connect anywhere onchain and build applications that can easily and securely communicate between multiple blockchains. Importantly, Hyperlane is fully open-source and always permissionless to build with.
