Documentation / Bittensor concepts / Tokenomics
Tokenomics
Last reviewed 2026-09-15
Learn how tao and alpha tokens are emitted and distributed to participants on Bittensor.
Supply
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total supply | 21,000,000 τ |
| Circulating supply | ~11.2M τ (snapshot) |
| In circulation | ~53% (snapshot) |
The total issuance shown on Taostats is taken directly from the substrate blockchain and updates automatically. Because tao used to recycle registrations is burned back into the unissued supply, the halvening schedule lengthens over time — this is calculated at the current block/issuance.
Halving
Bittensor tokens follow the Bitcoin halving schedule. The total token issuance, not the block number, determines the exact point each halvening occurs (see Halving).
Because the halvening is issuance-driven, you read it off the chain rather than counting blocks. The current block and issuance are available from the API, for example:
bash
curl -H "Authorization: $TAOSTATS_API_KEY" \
"https://api.taostats.io/api/block/v1?limit=1"Emission split
Alpha emission is divided between the participants and the subnet pool:
- Miners earn incentive for useful work
- Validators earn dividends for accurate consensus
- Stakers earn a share of the validator's dividends
See Staking in dTao for how to participate.
In this section
- Tokenomics
- TAO
- Alpha tokens
- Alpha emission — see How emission works
- Halving
- Burning
- Recycling
- Price Impact and Slippage