Bittensor proposes Gamma tokens to enhance subnet collaboration

Bittensor’s subnets have spent years competing for the same pot of TAO emissions. A new proposal wants to flip that dynamic entirely, turning rivals into customers. At the Exploit Summit on September 28, 2026, @const_reborn from the OpenTensor Foundation introduced Gamma tokens: a proposed economic layer that would let subnets buy and sell services from one another using transferable credits backed by their own emissions. What Gamma tokens actually do Under the proposal, subnets would convert a portion of their TAO emissions into Gamma credits. Those credits could then be spent on compute, inference, or other services provided by fellow subnets or external providers. One implementation detail floated in early discussions involves burning alpha tokens to acquire Gamma credits, though the mechanics remain to be formalized. Alpha tokens are the subnet-specific assets introduced under Bittensor’s dynamic TAO framework, which allowed individual subnets to issue their own tokens traded against TAO. Emissions have historically functioned as something close to a salary: rewards that validators and miners sell on the open market. Gamma tokens would reframe at least a portion of those emissi...