AI Summary
5 min read🎙️ The Speakers & Context
- The Format: Host-led discussion with rotating guests and live demos.
- The Key Players:
- Hosts: Jason Calacanis (JCal, investor/podcaster) and Lon Harris (co-host, tech enthusiast); JCal drives bullish crypto-AI narrative.
- Guests: Mark Jeffrey (Stillcore Capital, early Bittensor investor, 18 months ahead on trends); Alla Shabana (Bittensor co-founder, Crucible Labs co-founder building wallets/allocators); Michael Rye (SetupClaw founder, OpenClaw SaaS); Pete & Maddie Reese (Bizbee.ai father-daughter duo, AI startup incubator).
- The Vibe: Hyper-enthusiastic, promotional, "frisky" bullish on AI-crypto fusion.
🎣 The Executive Hook
- The "One Big Idea": Bittensor (TAO) reprograms Bitcoin's mining into a subsidy engine for 128+ AI subnets—decentralized "companies" where global miners compete to build cheaper, superior AI tools like coding copilots (Ridge beats Claude at 5-7x lower cost) or private inference (Targon). Value accrues via TAO staking and subnet tokens, turning stranded talent/hardware into tokenized ownership.
- Why It Matters: Central AI giants (Anthropic, Cursor) hoard $29B valuations for what Bittensor builds permissionlessly for $10M emissions; aligns with deregulating SEC/CFTC (per JCal's interviews), enabling U.S.-based crypto-AI infra amid AI cost wars.
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
What you'll learn
- 1 `(00:00)` **🎙️ Introduction: Mark Jeffrey (Stillcore Capital)**
- 2 `(05:34)` **Bittensor Overview**
- 3 `(07:43)` **Key Bittensor Subnets: Ridge (Subnet 62)**
- 4 `(12:32)` **Subnet Tokens & Incentives**
- 5 `(14:00)` **🎙️ Guest: Ala Shabana (Crucible Labs, Bittensor Co-Founder)**
- 6 `(18:44)` **Stillcore Investments: Targon (Subnet 4) & Hippias**
- 7 `(26:10)` **Miner Profiles & Real-World Impact**
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Every Banking - https://Every.io
https://Lemon.io - Lemon.io/twist
Wispr Flow - https://wisprflow.ai/twist
Plaud - https://plaud.ai/twistRo.co - https://Ro.co/Twist
Today’s show:
*Sure, we all love open source models, but what about completely decentralized AI? Rather than leaving the big decision-making in the hands of a few elite CEOs, shouldn’t users have a say — and potentially even a stake — in how this incredible technology develops?
On TWiST, we welcome Ala Shaabana of Crucible Labs, one of the co-founders of Bittensor. It’s an open-source protocol powering a blockchain-based machine learning network. What does that mean? Users mine a crypto token — $TAO — but rather than using up their compute on solving extremely long equations, they devote it to actually powering a range of innovative AI apps (aka subnets).
Plus we’ve got Mark Jeffrey, co-founder of the Bittensor Fund Stillcore Capital, to show us some of his favorite subnet projects, and walk us through how he trained his AI agent to mine crpyto.
All that AND two amazing new OpenClaw demos.
Mark Jeffrey: https://x.com/markjeffrey
Stillcore Capital: https://stillcorecapital.com/
Ala Shaabana (Crucible Labs): https://x.com/CrucibleLabs
Michael Ryaboy (Setup Claw): https://setupclaw.com/
Pete and Maddie Reese (Bizzby AI): https://bizzby.ai/
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro01:28 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!04:11 The booming intersection of crypto, and AI agents05:49 Mark Jeffrey joins the show!06:13 Bittensor explained — how TAO subsidizes AI products07:37 Mark’s top Bittensor projects00:10
More from this podcast
This Week in Startups →