In Asian philosophy, Tao is the natural way of the universe, an unexplainable force that is an important part of everyday life. It gets its name from the Chinese character which means “the way” or “the path”. If you are a Star Wars fan - think "The Force."

The tao token similarly pervades into every part of the Bittensor ecosystem. Tao is the token that is foundational to all of the tokens earned by core participants of the Bittensor network.

For a high-level overview, the Tokenomics page has a great history and background of the tao token.

Tao Emission

One block is written to the Bittensor blockchain approximately every 12 seconds.

For every block written, 1 tao* is created (in the current halving cycle). (see Tao Emission Distribution for details)

This means a maximum of 7200 tao are created every day. If a block takes longer to be produced, this can lower the daily emitted blocks.

You can visualise the chain block production at taostats

Distribution of Emitted tao

The emitted tao is distributed to the subnet pools of each subnet. The distribution is determined by the ratio of tao_in, the tao in the Subnet liquidity pool.

Tao Emission Distribution

Recycling

Recycled tao is tao that is removed from circulation back into the unissued supply.

Recycling

tao vs. rao

1 billionth of a tao is a rao. 10^9 rao = 1 tao. The Bittensor network has a hard limit of 21,000,000 (21 million) tao.

Halving

Halving