Bittensor-focused public firm xTAO received the final approval to list its common shares on Canada’s TSX Venture (TSXV) Exchange, the company announced today. The company’s common shares is launching on TSXV on July 23, under ticker symbol XTAO.U.
With the listing, xTAO closed a $22.8 million funding of subscription receipts from a group of digital asset venture capital firms, including the Digital Currency Group, Animoca Brands, Arca, Borderless Capital and FalconX. The company went public on the TSXV in May this year.
“Our public listing and financing mark important milestones for xTAO, as we execute on our mission of advancing decentralized AI,” said xTAO Founder Karia Samaroo.
Samaroo previously founded and served as CEO and Chairman of the crypto exchange WonderFi, which was later acquired by Robinhood for $180 million.
xTAO said in its press release that its core goal is to contribute to Bittensor’s ecosystem by fostering the development of valuable products, including data, computation, and machine learning models. xTAO’s validator operation will both examine the quality of those products and help connect them to consumers and enterprises.
“Bittensor is rapidly emerging as the ‘Bitcoin of AI,’ and xTAO will be well-positioned to capitalize on its growth potential through the operation of our validator and our use of TAO as our treasury reserve asset,” Samaroo said.
As one of the most prominent projects at the intersection of AI and crypto, Bittensor is essentially a platform built around incentives. Users can contribute intelligence by helping AI systems improve and earn TAO tokens based on how useful their input is. It’s open to anyone and designed to coordinate AI in a permissionless way.
“Bittensor has emerged as an important alternative to centralized AI systems, with the network providing an open and user-controlled platform that is composed of specialized subnetworks, known as subnets, that focus on creating specific and unique products,” xTAO said in the latest release.
During his appearance on The Block’s podcast earlier this year, DCG Founder and CEO Barry Silbert said Bittensor’s native token, TAO, has the potential to become the next bitcoin. Last November, DCG launched Yuma, an artificial intelligence-focused subsidiary to support the development of Bittensor.
“I understood the ambition, the idea of decentralized AI, this worldwide web of AI concept, it really resonated with me,” said Silbert, adding that he spent six months learning Bittensor and getting to know its ecosystem. “I think this has the potential to be just as bitcoin, and [thought] I will regret it if I don’t do something.”
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