Bittensor (TAO) Price Prediction: Will the AI-Powered Blockchain Protocol Continue Its Upward Trajectory?

Despite facing a searing takedown from crypto analyst Thinking Weird, who calls Bittensor a “scam” with deeply flawed tokenomics and centralized control, the TAO token has defied gravity.

The price of the AI-powered blockchain protocol, Bittensor (CRYPTO: TAAO), is continuing to rise on Thursday. The token has shot up nearly 10% in the past 24 hours and hit a high of $259.68 before pulling back slightly. It is now trading around $254.86.

The token has been in the news recently after it was the subject of a scathing takedown by crypto market participant Thinking Weird. In the post, the analyst accused Bittensor of being a VC-backed façade rather than the decentralized AI utopia it claims to be.

The analyst claims that Bittensor’s “Three Giants + Senate” governance is allegedly a closed loop of insiders and employees of the Opentensor Foundation.

According to the post, 62.5% of TAO tokens may be held by internal players, which raises concerns about decentralization.

The crypto shows a $2.19 billion market cap, but over 70% of tokens are staked or locked, suggesting poor liquidity and a real accessible market cap closer to $600 million. The cryptocurrencies soared massively last year, claiming $10 billion at peak price.

Moreover, the dTAO upgrade, which was intended to expand the subnet ecosystem, has failed. It dilutes liquidity, forces subnet owners to subsidize projects and benefits validator nodes disproportionately, claims Thinking Weird.

dTAO's structure allegedly lets early insiders dump tokens on new participants, using subnet token hype as a vehicle.

The technical picture

The chart below shows TAO breaking out of a falling wedge pattern - a bullish reversal setup. After months of lower highs and lower lows, TAO is now pushing against the upper resistance trendline.

With volume ticking up and momentum indicators improving, the setup is ripe for further upside. TAO recently reclaimed the 20-day EMA at $237. A retest of this level is possible and would act as a bullish confirmation if held.

On the other hand, the key resistance lies around $280-$300. A break above this range could trigger a sharp rally.

The wedge on the chart below implies a potential measured move towards $400 in the near term.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is hovering around 55, neither overbought nor oversold, which suggests room to run. The gradient of the line suggests increasing buying pressure.

Additionally, a bullish crossover had recently occurred, signaling a positive trend shift. The histogram also remained bullish for the TAO token with increasing green bars.

It is also important to note that crypto analyst Bitcoinsensus boldly predicted a long-term target of $1,330 per token as the altcoin has formed a double bottom W pattern on the weekly timeframe.