Bittensor’s (alleged) $10M rug pull (feat. Mark Jeffrey) | E2275

Bittensor’s (alleged) $10M rug pull (feat. Mark Jeffrey) | E2275

From This Week in Startups by Jason Calacanis

April 14, 2026 · 1h 19m · Episode 2275

About this episode

The episode discusses the alleged $10 million rug pull in the Bittensor community and features insights from Mark Jeffrey and other subnet founders.

This Week In Startups is made possible by: Sentry - https://sentry.io/twist Deel - https://deel.com/twist Netsuite - https://netsuite.com/twist Plaud - https:// Plaud.ai/twist Today’s show: *TAO just had its worst week since launch. One of Bittensor’s most prominent subnet operators allegedly dumped $10 million in tokens and walked away. We’re digging into what we know, how this could change the Bittensor community… and why dedicated builders still believe in this ecosystem. Jason and Lon are joined by Stillcore Capital Partner Mark Jeffrey to break down the Covenant AI and Templar controversy in real time. Then they’re joined by three prominent subnet founders: Ken Miyachi of BitMind (Subnet 34) and Will Squires of Steffen Cruz of MacroCosmos (which owns Subnets 1, 9, and 13). Together, they’re investigating how Bittensor incentives work, how real products are still emerging from the TAO ecosystem, and what governance fixes could arise to prevent the next (alleged) rug pull. Timestamps: 0:00 Mark Jeffrey joins the show! https://x.com/markjeffrey 2:18 How Mark Jeffrey learned about Bittensor. https://bittensor.com/ 6:17 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews…

People in this episode

Host: Jason Calacanis

Guest: Mark Jeffrey

Topics covered

  • Bittensor
  • rug pull
  • cryptocurrency
  • blockchain governance
  • investments
  • AI

Keywords

  • Bittensor
  • rug pull
  • Mark Jeffrey
  • blockchain
  • TAO
  • investments
  • Covenant AI
  • Templar
  • governance

Sponsors

Sentry, Deel, Netsuite, Plaud

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bittensor, Stillcore Capital, BitMind, MacroCosmos, Covenant AI, Templar, TAO

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