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Covenant AI, the team behind Templar, Basilica, and Grail, has announced it departing from Bittensor, citing concerns over governance, centralization, and unilateral control.The announcement has already impacted market sentiment, with TAO falling roughly 7%. Subnets across the board are down as well, with Templar's down over 50%.
A Break Over Governance and Control
In a lengthy public statement, Covenant said its decision stemmed from what it described as a breakdown between Bittensor’s stated decentralization principles and how the network is actually governed.
— covenant (@covenant_ai) April 9, 2026
The team alleged that a single actor, former Opentensor CEO Const, exercised outsized control over the network, including the ability to suspend subnet emissions, override community authority, and apply economic pressure through token sales. We find this claim skeptical, given Const's departure from his role in February.
Tristan Hillerich
Covenant framed these Const's alleged actions as incompatible with decentralized infrastructure.
"When a single actor can suspend a subnet's emissions, override an owner's authority over their own community spaces, publicly deprecate projects without process, and use token sales as a coercive mechanism to compel compliance, that is not decentralization. It is centralized control with decentralized branding."
The statement further claimed that Bittensor’s governance structure, often presented as distributed through a multisig “triumvirate,” functioned in practice as a centralized system. As a result, Covenant said it could no longer justify building on the network or asking its community to commit capital and resources under those conditions.
Fallout From Recent Actions
According to Covenant, the decision follows a series of alleged actions taken against its operations in recent weeks. These included:
- Suspension of emissions to its subnets
- Removal of moderation control over community channels
- Deprecation of subnet infrastructure
- Token sales timed during periods of operational conflict
The team characterized these as punitive measures executed without transparent governance or consensus. Covenant emphasized that its broader mission remains unchanged and that its research and development efforts will continue outside of Bittensor. The group pointed to its flagship achievement, Covenant-72B, a 72 billion parameter model trained across more than 70 contributors, as proof that decentralized AI training is viable beyond any single network.
Bart Hillerich
The announcement quickly sparked speculation across CT, with some initially questioning whether the post was the result of a compromised account. That speculation was later dismissed after Covenant’s founder reaffirmed the message publicly, stating:
"Crypto was meant to stand against tyrants."
Const Responds
Const addressed the situation in Discord, outlining both his perspective on the conflict and a potential path forward for subnet governance. His full statement is included below:
“Hello @grail · 81 @templar · 3 @basilica · 39 , At the launch of dTAO a year ago we had originally planned to launch subnets with community-owned vote-based ownership. The idea was simple: alpha holders of a subnet can vote with their wallets to elect the team that sets the hyper-parameters. This feature was delayed on account of giving subnet owners more control, especially early in their lives. This seems like the moment to begin the conversation about this evolution again. Notably, the introduction of a system where we-as-a-community can vote to elect and bring these subnets back to life. I will of course participate in this mechanism, and being one of the largest holders and supporters and also technical contributors to all three projects, suggest someone here that can effectively bring forwards the goals Sam and I had originally founded the projects on. Sam has clearly made an ugly decision out of malice and greed. However, I have seen in my life, many times, that these types of moments are in fact openings. For us, it is clearly an opening for a new chapter of what subnets can be and who runs them. More to come in the am.
@const [τ, τ]”
He followed up on X, saying:
"This will prove to birth the first subnets on Bittensor that run headless and as true commodities."
Broader Ecosystem Perspective
Despite the high-profile exit, voices across the ecosystem are emphasizing that Bittensor’s broader network remains intact.
After all, as Mark Jeffrey commented, there are many other subnets contributing:
Bittensor is a quite a LOT more than Subnet 3, and $TAO will carry on fine without it.
— Mark Jeffrey (@markjeffrey) April 10, 2026
It's unfortunate that the founder chose this path.
There are 125 other subnets -- plus three new slots that just freed up.
We stand by his perspective. While Covenant's departure is a hit to the ecosystem, the negativity will soon pass. Plenty of brighter days are on the horizon.
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