A Year of Growth: The Journey of Bit Tensor’s Neural Network

The Humble Beginnings of Bit Tensor

A year ago, Bit Tensor was merely a new idea, with a small team of developers and tech enthusiasts working hard to bring it to life. The website was simple, and we were running a validator script that didn’t take too long to execute. In October, we began mining a new element—though most of the early members didn’t fully understand what that meant.

After our previous network shut down in March, it took six months to regroup and develop a more solid foundation for Bit Tensor 2.0. With a fresh influx of capital, we hired engineers Isabella and Eugene, and the team began working diligently on building Network Two, incorporating a rock-solid consensus mechanism and more robust functionality. The true potential of the network wasn’t yet fully realized, but we laid the groundwork for what was to come.

The early days were tough. We didn’t have much of a community at first, but a small, dedicated group of users started joining Discord around September. It was fascinating to see the gradual growth in participation.

The Official Launch and Early Growth

The real turning point came on November 2nd when we officially launched the new chain. What followed was a whirlwind journey. During the first month, early miners and developers worked day and night without much documentation—just pure determination and collaboration through Discord.

Initially, the difficulty was set at 5 million but was quickly capped at 10 million as the network began to grow faster than expected. Those were exciting times—people in the community often reminisce about that early surge, wishing we could go back to when registering miners felt like a race, especially with the notorious UID 0 incident. Someone managed to grab it but later lost it, adding a bit of humor to the intensity of those early days.

Building a Community and Expanding the Reach

It’s not just the technology that grew—our community has seen tremendous growth as well. The efforts of Top Quillen on Twitter helped us reach a much larger audience, and the number of Discord members exploded from 200 at launch to over 3,000 in just a year. This natural growth reflects the increasing recognition of Bit Tensor in both the tech and blockchain communities.

We also worked closely with branding firm Saffron to refresh our website and better align it with our evolving identity. This updated website is set to go live soon, and it will showcase just how far Bit Tensor has come, with a sleek design that mirrors the sophistication of the network itself.

Technological Advancements and Future Potential

One of the most significant developments of the year was the launch of the Playground in July, thanks to the efforts of our developer, Cairo. This feature allowed us to begin exporting knowledge from the network’s graph, offering an exciting preview of the network's full potential. It was a pivotal moment in demonstrating the real-world applications of Bit Tensor.

Behind the scenes, our research team has been hard at work refining the technology. From optimizing how we evaluate miners to improving network response times, our engineers have made significant strides. Early on, the network was slow, with many users running on basic machines or digital ocean droplets, but that’s no longer the case. Thanks to ongoing research, our consensus mechanisms have become more efficient, and we’ve made breakthroughs in how we use miner outputs, particularly with logits.

This culminated in our first research paper, which we submitted to NeuralIPS. The paper outlines key improvements to consensus and incentive mechanisms, making Bit Tensor more performant and valuable. As of today, our network spans six continents, and based on current difficulty, we estimate the network to be powered by the equivalent of 576 RTX 3090 GPUs just for registration—an incredible milestone for a decentralized system.

The Road Ahead: Upcoming Milestones

As we near the end of the year, Bit Tensor is pushing the boundaries of its original limits. But we’re more than ready for the next phase of development, which includes expanding with more sub-networks and increasing UID counts. The network is running smoother than ever, and we’re about to unlock even greater possibilities.

Several exciting releases are on the horizon. On November 17th, we’re launching an integrated wallet directly into the website, providing users with a streamlined way to manage their assets. Following that, on December 1st, we’ll introduce BTClean in Discord, allowing users to query peers and stake values within the Discord environment.

Perhaps the most anticipated development will be the launch of the Finney chain on January 10th, 2024. This new chain will introduce sub-networks, further decentralizing the system and empowering more community-driven governance. The introduction of sub-networks will open up countless new possibilities for both scalability and functionality within the Bit Tensor ecosystem.

Expanding into Decentralized Apps and AI

Beyond the network itself, we’re exploring integration with decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and working on building smart contracts that use Tau as the reserve currency. These developments will open up new opportunities for the adoption of Bit Tensor in decentralized applications (DApps).

We’re also diving into image generation through advances in tools like stability diffusion. This will enable us to build more advanced tools and applications, starting with text-based models and eventually expanding into visual AI. By exploring both text and visual mediums, Bit Tensor can extend its reach into new domains of AI development.

A Vision for the Future

At its core, Bit Tensor has always been about creating an incentivized neural network, and we’ve stayed true to that vision throughout this past year. Looking forward, the potential for growth is boundless. We’ve built a powerful, decentralized AI system, and the achievements over the past year are just the beginning.

Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey. Together, we’ve accomplished so much, and there’s much more to come. The future of Bit Tensor is bright, and we’re thrilled to continue growing alongside such a passionate community.

Source : @The Bittensor Hub.