Should You Buy Bittensor in 2025?

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At HelloSafe, our expert has been monitoring the evolution of the Bittensor cryptocurrency for over three years. Every month, hundreds of thousands of users across South Africa rely on us to analyse market trends and identify the best investment opportunities. Our reports are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. In line with our ethical charter, HelloSafe has never purchased Bittensor or received compensation from any entities associated with its ecosystem.

Bittensor in brief

How much does 1 Bittensor cost?

The price of Bittensor is up this week. As of today, Bittensor (TAO) is trading at approximately ZAR 6,978.80, showing a 24-hour gain of +2.97% but a 12% drop over the past week. The market capitalisation stands at around ZAR 61.35 billion, with an average daily trading volume of ZAR 2.04 billion over the last three months. Bittensor currently ranks #31 by market cap, with 8.8 million TAO in circulation and a market dominance of roughly 0.24% in the crypto space. Bittensor’s volatile recent performance highlights both the risks and the unique investment potential of decentralised AI in the South African market.

Our comprehensive review of the cryptocurrency Bittensor

Have we reached an inflection point for decentralized AI protocols? After an in-depth analysis of Bittensor (TAO), spanning its three-year evolution and leveraging a blend of proprietary on-chain indicators, advanced technical signals, market dynamics, and competitive benchmarking, we present a holistic perspective. Our algorithms cross-examined these data to identify the strongest potential entry zones on the protocol today. So, why might Bittensor well-represent a strategic entry point into the decentralized AI ecosystem heading into 2025?

Recent Performance and Market Context

Price Trajectory and Key Developments

Bittensor has displayed remarkable volatility and upside potential over the past year, with the current price at $372.21 USD (as of 7 June 2025), following a 12% correction over the past week from $452. Despite this, TAO stands over 1,100% above its 2024 price lows, a testament to enduring market conviction. The asset recorded an all-time high at $767.68 (April 2024), reflecting the speculative and cyclical interest generative AI protocols have sparked in Web3 portfolios, before undergoing a healthy retracement of over 51%.

• A successful upgrade of the dTAO protocol in February 2025, immediately improving scalability and efficiency for subnet operators.
• Listing on Coinbase, driving a 20% price surge and broader market discoverability.
• Strategic partnership with BitGo, opening institutional staking gateways and expanding the suitability of TAO for professional investors.
• June 2025’s Oblong partnership, raising $7.5M to nurture ecosystem development.
• Integration with LayerZero, enabling cross-chain interoperability—an essential move for any asset seeking to dominate the modular AI landscape.

Macroeconomic and sectoral backdrops remain supportive, as institutional flows into AI-linked digital assets accelerate, driven by the broad adoption curve and an ever-more favourable regulatory environment in key markets. The prospect of a Bitcoin-style halving for TAO further stimulates a scarcity-driven bullish narrative, reinforcing the likelihood of outsized future returns compared to more mature crypto assets.

Technical Analysis

Key On-Chain and Chart Signals

• Relative Strength Index (RSI): Currently sits at 43.59, in neutral territory, indicating neither overbought nor oversold conditions—a scenario often preceding sharp directional moves.
• MACD: At -8.12, the moving average convergence divergence indicator signals recent bearish momentum, yet seems to lose negative inertia as price nears historical support levels.
• Moving Averages: Price trades below its 20-day ($412), 50-day ($395), and 200-day ($399) resistance lines, but remains comfortably above the critical 100-day MA ($323), setting a robust technical floor.
• Support and Resistance: Key supports are identified at $323 and $330, while $414 and $490 form crucial resistance zones. Historical action suggests that breaking above $414 could catalyze significant volume inflows and price acceleration.
• Volume: With $108.57M in 24h trading volume, liquidity is deep, allowing for institutional-scale allocations without material slippage risk.

The current neutral-to-bearish sentiment, combined with TAO’s approach to oversold support, offers an attractive risk/reward skew for investors anticipating a bullish trend reversal—especially with upcoming ecosystem updates and sectoral tailwinds. The pattern corresponds frequently to ‘accumulation zones’ after sizable retracements in high-conviction digital assets.

Structure and Short/Mid-Term Momentum

Despite the retracement from its all-time highs, the emerging structure—a series of higher lows since early 2024 and the absorption of selling at long-term supports—suggests that consolidation at present levels could be a precursor to renewed upward momentum, particularly as macro AI and DeFi themes strengthen.

Fundamental Analysis

Adoption, Partnerships, and Ecosystem Expansion

Bittensor’s most compelling strength resides in its rapidly expanding network. With more than 118 subnets operational and an objective of surpassing 200 before year-end, the project outpaces most competitors in on-chain activity and utility generation. Targeted partnerships (notably BitGo for institutional staking and multiline integration with EVM chains) create robust capital inflows and technical flexibility.

• Fixed Token Supply: 21M TAO, mirroring Bitcoin to induce supply scarcity.
• Peer-to-Peer AI Marketplace: Generating real-world value by directly connecting AI providers and consumers, a first-mover advantage in a nascent vertical.
• Decentralized Consensus ("Proof of Intelligence"): Strongly differentiates the asset, helping ensure network security and rewarding valuable contributions.
• Increasing Institutional Participation: Institutional-grade staking solutions, rising liquidity, and target-specific ecosystem investments (as illustrated by the Oblong capital injection).

Valuation Metrics and Competitive Positioning

• Market Capitalization: $3.27B, ranking #31 globally, ensuring significant visibility but leaving ample room versus mega-cap peers in the AI/blockchain blend.
• Relative Valuation: With a fully diluted cap still modest relative to the sector's potential and rapid user/utility growth, TAO’s current levels appear structurally undervalued for long-duration investors.
• Liquidity and Volume: $108M+ in daily turnover demonstrates robust market confidence, allowing efficient entry and exit—crucial for professional investors and funds.

Ecosystem Traction and DeFi/NFT/Layer Integrations

TAO’s expanding ecosystem receives a further boost with the implementation of LayerZero (cross-chain compatibility), EVM support, and a surge of interoperable subnets—all essential levers for onboarding new users and mainstream use cases. The dTAO protocol upgrade adds scalability, and with institutional staking live, risk/return profiles continue to attract new classes of capital.

• Upcoming Bitcoin-style halving
• Imminent subnet expansions
• Potential for early market share dominance in decentralized AI compute/resource marketplaces

Investment Strategies According to Horizon

Short-Term (1–3 Months)

• Momentum Capture: Positioning close to $330–$372 support could allow investors to exploit rebounds toward resistance levels, especially with macro tailwinds and looming technical upgrades.
• Event-Driven Upside: Immediate-term price reactions are expected around protocol updates, new subnet launches, or further CEX listings.

Medium-Term (3–12 Months)

• Accumulation During Retracement: DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging) at price lows historically has produced outsized returns, particularly ahead of high-visibility events like the halving or major partnership announcements.
• Ecosystem Flywheel: As subnet activations breach new highs and EVM compatibility deepens, utility-driven demand should outpace new issuance.

Long-Term (1–5 Years)

• Strategic Positioning: Holding through protocol expansion, potential regulatory clarity in the AI/web3 sector, and macro adoption cycles can grant strong convexity to patient capital.
• Innovation Premium: With first-mover status and sticky ecosystem effect, Bittensor could command a premium valuation as the AI-blockchain convergence matures.

Ideal entry strategies involve monitoring for pullbacks toward the $323–$330 technical region, scaling in ahead of confirmed ecosystem milestones, and maintaining flexibility to add on technical breakouts above major resistance.

Bittensor Price Projections

Is Now the Right Time to Consider Bittensor?

To summarise, Bittensor’s fundamentals—robust on-chain growth, institutional adoption, exchange expansion, capped supply, and a dynamic innovation roadmap—stand out in a crowded AI-crypto arena. Its recent repricing offers a favourable asymmetry for gain-oriented investors, and the runway for adoption is both broad and deep. The convergence of sectoral momentum, upcoming strategic catalysts (notably subnet growth, technical upgrades, and halving dynamics), strong liquidity, and relative undervaluation substantiate the view that Bittensor may well be entering a fresh phase of upward potential.

Against a backdrop of rapidly evolving decentralized AI, vigilant accumulation during periods of technical retracement appears justified by both long-term growth drivers and near-term event risk. The technical and fundamental profiles combined give credence to a renewed interest, especially for those willing to manage exposure through disciplined risk protocols.

Bittensor remains a high-volatility cryptocurrency presenting excellent opportunities for dynamic portfolio strategies, while requiring attentive risk management. Its recent surge underscores TAO’s ability to deliver quick, powerful moves—yet the macro landscape calls for a selective, informed approach. Immediate key levels to monitor include $323 as firm support and $414–$490 as major resistance. The forthcoming protocol update (Q2 2025) could be an inflection point, strengthening Bittensor’s case as a must-watch asset in the decentralized AI investment universe.

How to buy Bittensor?

It is simple and secure to purchase Bittensor (TAO) cryptocurrency online through a regulated platform, even for beginner investors in South Africa. There are two main ways to buy Bittensor: “spot purchase” (you own the coin directly, in a wallet) and trading via crypto CFDs (speculative contracts without owning the coin). Each method suits different risk profiles and investment goals. To help you find the best fit, you’ll find a full comparison of leading, regulated platforms further down the page.

Spot Purchase

Spot purchase means you buy actual Bittensor coins, which are then stored in your own crypto wallet—giving you direct control and ownership. The main fees are usually a fixed commission per transaction, often displayed in ZAR (South African Rand).

Example: Buying Bittensor (Spot Purchase)

If Bittensor is trading at $372.21 USD (approx. R7,000) per coin, a R20,000 investment lets you buy about 2.85 TAO, after accounting for roughly R150 in transaction fees.
✔️ Gain scenario:
If the price of Bittensor rises by 10%, your holding is now valued at R22,000.
Result: R2,000 gross gain, or +10% return on your investment.

Trading via CFD

Trading Bittensor via CFD (“Contract for Difference”) means you speculate on its price movements without actually owning the coin. You trade a contract based on Bittensor’s price. Fees typically include a spread (the difference between buy and sell prices) and, if you keep your position open overnight, additional financing charges.

Example: Bittensor CFD Trading

For instance, with a R20,000 position and 5x leverage, you get exposure equivalent to R100,000 in Bittensor.
✔️ Gain scenario:
If Bittensor climbs 8%, your position gains 8% × 5 = 40%.
Result: That's a R8,000 gain, on R20,000 invested (excluding fees).

Final Advice

Before investing, it is crucial to compare the fees, security, and features of each platform. Your best option will depend on your personal objectives and experience level. You will find a detailed platform comparison, with up-to-date fees for South African investors, in the comparison table below on this page.

Our 7 tips for buying Bittensor

The latest news about Bittensor

Bittensor secured a $7.5M private equity investment from Oblong in June 2025, strengthening its ecosystem and institutional trust.

This funding round signals confidence from major investors and demonstrates a growing support for Bittensor’s decentralized AI infrastructure, a positive sign for both global and regional stakeholders, including those in South Africa (ZA). The investment is earmarked for the expansion of the Bittensor ecosystem, potentially fostering new development, adoption, and cross-border involvement as the project scales. This follows a sequence of constructive institutional involvements, such as BitGo’s staking solutions, further underlining Bittensor’s increasing maturity and credibility as an AI blockchain leader.

The recent integration of LayerZero technology, completed in May 2025, enables seamless cross-chain interoperability for Bittensor users and developers.

This upgrade substantially improves communication between Bittensor and other ecosystems like Ethereum, an advancement particularly strategic for South Africa’s crypto community, where multi-chain wallets and DeFi solutions are increasingly popular. The LayerZero bridge paves the way for more flexible asset movement, which could entice local exchanges and fintech projects to support TAO and related products, enhancing accessibility and potential liquidity in the South African market.

Bittensor’s network has expanded to over 118 active subnets, with a targeted growth to 200+ by late 2025.

This ongoing subnet proliferation is a core indicator of technological resilience and community participation, crucial for a decentralized protocol’s success. For South African blockchain developers and enterprises, this rapid growth presents opportunities for integration, collaboration, and specialized AI service deployment on a scalable global infrastructure—strengthening connectivity to international innovation hubs.

The listing of Bittensor (TAO) on Coinbase in February 2025 delivered a sustained +20% price increase and enhanced global accessibility.

Coinbase is a prominent on-ramp for African crypto users owing to its reliability and compliance standards. The listing greatly improves liquidity, trust, and digital asset exposure for TAO, benefiting both retail and institutional investors in South Africa looking for regulated, reputable avenues to enter the Bittensor ecosystem or diversify their AI-focused crypto portfolios.

Sentiment among global analysts remains moderately optimistic, with long-term targets set at $484 (+30%) and market outlook focused on AI decentralization.

Despite recent short-term volatility—partly mirroring broader tech sector moves—Bittensor continues to receive positive coverage for its unique Proof-of-Intelligence consensus model, capped tokenomics (mirroring Bitcoin), and proven track record in delivering roadmap upgrades. For South Africa’s forward-looking investors and enterprises, Bittensor offers both an innovation narrative and a potential hedge on the future of decentralized AI, making it a project of persistent local and global relevance.

FAQ

P. Laurore

Finance expert

Co-founder of HelloSafe and holder of a Master's degree in finance, Pauline has recognised expertise in personal finance, which she uses to help users better understand and optimise their financial choices. At HelloSafe, Pauline plays a key role in designing clear, educational content on savings, investments and personal finance. Passionate about financial education, Pauline strives, with every piece of content she oversees, to provide reliable, transparent and unbiased information for independent and informed financial management. To this end, she has tested over 100 trading platforms to help internet users make the right choices.