Jacob Steeves Announces Bittensor Emission Block

Jacob Steeves, known as Const, dropped a public service announcement in the Bittensor Discord outlining a Bittensor emission block aimed at subnets engaging in foul play or offering no clear path to ecosystem value. The interim measure rolls out next week and signals a sharper editorial stance from the Opentensor Foundation on how emissions get allocated across the network.

Four Criteria Define the Bittensor Emission Block

Jacob Steeves will apply the Bittensor emission block on a case-by-case basis, with four behaviors driving each decision. First, subnets burning 100% of miner emissions long term with no plan to bring miners online will face blocks. Next, active self-mining setups also qualify, meaning subnets that ship no code and instead route emissions back to their own keys through stake weight. Dead, fully abandoned, or “unclaimed” subnets that have never announced themselves sit in the same category. Finally, subnets engaged in TaoFlow exploitation round out the list, with subnet 104 named directly as an example showing minimal chain activity from the broader network.

A chain operation to carry out the Bittensor emission block goes live on Tuesday. Jacob Steeves framed the move as a stopgap rather than a permanent fix, pointing toward upcoming protocol upgrades that will allow more organic emission control. Conviction, shorting mechanics, and the eventual decentralized governance system of Bittensor will all come into play this year, shifting emission decisions toward swarm-based intelligence rather than top-down intervention.

Community Rallies Behind the Bittensor Emission Block

In his closing remarks, Jacob Steeves expressed confidence in broad community consensus behind the activity, framing it as a way to push value toward subnets actively advancing decentralized artificial intelligence. The reaction inside the Discord backed that read instantly, with the announcement drawing dozens of heart, fire, and π reactions within minutes.

The community response also spilled onto X, where prominent Bittensor voice DreadBongo (@DreadBong0) backed the move publicly and pushed Jacob Steeves to stay aggressive. Calling out “scammers, freeloaders and extractors,” DreadBongo urged Jacob Steeves not to pacify or soften his approach, arguing the mission depends on the same fire that drives the network forward. His post echoed a broader sentiment among long-time community members that emission discipline has been overdue inside Bittensor. Check DreadBongo’s post here.

The Bittensor emission block marks one of the more direct interventions from the Opentensor Foundation in recent months. It also previews the philosophical shift heading into the second half of 2026, where Conviction-based mechanics and decentralized governance will determine which subnets actually earn their share of TAO.

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