Bittensor Price Drops 3% After Departure of Covenant AI

Amid the weekend and de-escalating situation in the Middle East, the Bittensor (TAO) price once again got stuck in the consolidating pattern with no major price movement. On April 11, Bittensor experienced a drop of 3.48% on a daily chart despite a positive sentiment in the crypto market. 

In the last 7 days, the TAO price has plunged by over 14% and experienced a low of $253. At the time of writing, the TAO is currently trading at around $264.95 with a market capitalization of around $2.86 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. The daily trading volume also plunged by over 73% on a daily chart. 

Major AI Team Covenant Exits Bittensor Over Centralization Claims

On April 10, one of Bittensor’s biggest subnet teams, Covenant AI, announced its departure from the network completely. The team had developed Covenant-72B, which is the largest AI model ever trained in a fully decentralized manner by using more than 70 regular computers from ordinary people. This project also got recognition from Nvidia’s CEO and Anthropic’s co-founder, which helped boost TAO’s price up sharply earlier this year. 

In a detailed post on X, Covenant AI founder Sam Dare said that the network is not fully decentralized. Instead, he called it “decentralization theatre.” In other words, he was saying that the network looks decentralized but is actually controlled by one person. 

According to the accusation, Bittensor co-founder Jacob Steeves, also known as Const, has real control over a “triumvirate”, which is a group of three persons that approves major network changes. He can make decisions unilaterally without full consensus. 

Sam Dare stated in the official post, “The entire premise of Bittensor, the promise that drew builders, miners, validators, and investors into this ecosystem, is that no single entity controls it. That promise is a lie.”

He said, “Over recent weeks, Jacob Steeves, also known as Const, has taken a series of actions against Covenant AI’s operations that are fundamentally incompatible with the principles the network claims to uphold. These actions include the suspension of emissions to our subnets, the removal of our moderation capabilities over our own community channels, the unilateral deprecation of our subnet infrastructure, and direct economic pressure applied through large, visible token sales timed to moments of operational conflict.”

These were not governance decisions made through transparent, decentralized consensus. They were punitive actions taken by one man who never relinquished control of a network he tells the world he no longer runs.

According to Dare, when a single actor can take down a subnet’s emissions or override an owner’s authority over their own community spaces, that is not decentralization. He said, “It is centralized control with decentralized branding.”

What Price Pattern is Bittensor (TAO) Following?

Right now, TAO is in a sharp corrective drop after an intense sell-off that happened after the token hit recent highs around $377. The news around Covenant AI triggered a downfall in the cryptocurrency. It broke the price below major levels that the token had been holding for some time. This is a break below the short-term downward trend line or a descending triangle pattern that formed during the pullback.

According to TradingView, the 14-day Relative Strength Index is currently revolving around 44, which is neutral-to-bearish territory. This shows that the price momentum has cooled after the heavy selling.

Apart from this, TAO is trading below its 50-day MA and recently broke under the 200-day and 38% Fibonacci retracement level around $294.

At present, there is strong support for cryptocurrency at around $260. If the cryptocurrency follows below this level, then it might open a door for further drops in the cryptocurrency. However, the overall crypto market seems positive as the Bitcoin (BTC) price is currently holding its position above $72,000.

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