Bittensor (TAO) Rallies 46% in March as AI Model Launch and Regulatory Milestone Fuel Surge

Key Takeaways

Table of Contents

Bittensor (TAO) surged more than 56% within a seven-day period, reaching an intraday peak of $293.8
The token has gained 46% throughout March after being added to the Upbit trading platform
On March 14, Grayscale’s Bittensor trust obtained SEC-reporting status
The network unveiled Covenant-72B, a 72-billion-parameter artificial intelligence model
Ecosystem subnet tokens experienced massive gains, with τemplar jumping 194% over seven days

Bittensor (TAO) has delivered one of its most impressive weekly performances in months. The cryptocurrency surged over 56% across a seven-day span and recorded a fresh peak of $293.8 on March 16.

The token began the week below the $175 mark. Currently, it’s hovering near $275 with a total market capitalization approaching $2.6 billion.

$TAO The point @eliz883 touched on is important 👀 https://t.co/S5ITHqWcbZ pic.twitter.com/ezpxWYNrAX
— LSTRADER (@LSTraderCrypto) March 15, 2026

This rally isn’t solely attributable to general market trends. Multiple project-specific announcements related to Bittensor seem to be fueling the upward momentum.

Grayscale’s Bittensor trust achieved SEC-reporting status on March 14. This designation requires the fund to submit regular filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a development that typically generates increased interest among institutional capital.

Bittensor just trained a 72-billion parameter language model across a fully decentralized network. No single company. No central data center. Just a global mesh of permissionless compute nodes collaborating on 1.1 trillion tokens.
The model is called Covenant-72B, completed on… pic.twitter.com/cD57h8r3KJ
— LunarCrush (@LunarCrush) March 12, 2026

This marks a degree of regulatory oversight that remains uncommon in the cryptocurrency sector. For certain market participants, this development lowers the risk profile of the investment.

Covenant-72B Model Announcement

The primary price catalyst emerged on March 15. Bittensor revealed plans to launch the Covenant-72B model — a sophisticated AI system featuring 72 billion parameters designed to operate within the Bittensor infrastructure.

This development represents a strategic shift for the platform. Instead of exclusively facilitating AI workloads from third-party developers, Bittensor now operates a substantial proprietary AI model directly on its blockchain.

Market participants have responded favorably, interpreting this advancement as evidence that Bittensor is evolving into a more comprehensive AI infrastructure platform.

Whale activity increased notably this week, coinciding with broader renewed enthusiasm for AI-focused cryptocurrency assets.

Subnet Token Rally

The subnet token ecosystem within Bittensor also experienced significant appreciation. Each subnet operates as an independent AI marketplace on the Bittensor infrastructure. Following the Dynamic TAO (dTAO) protocol upgrade, individual subnets now feature dedicated tokens.

τemplar posted the strongest performance with a 194% increase over seven days, currently trading at $19.3. TARGON climbed 60.3% to reach $13.25. Chutes advanced 40.1% to $25.1, while Affine appreciated 42.7% to $21.3.

These subnets operate as specialized AI marketplaces, each targeting distinct categories of artificial intelligence services.

TAO secured a listing on Upbit, one of South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, in late February. This addition provided access to a substantial base of retail traders.

As of March 16, TAO established a new intraday record of $293.8, representing a gain exceeding 46% from the beginning of March.