The Macro Pivot: Outcome-Based Intelligence. We are moving from AI as a Service to Results as a Service where software value is tied to revenue generation rather than seat licenses.
The Tactical Edge: Verticalize the Data. Build in sectors with non-public outcome data to create a compounding moat that resists commoditization by foundation models.
The winners of 2026 will be those who use AI to solve core human needs for connection and discovery while building defensible, data-rich business models.
The Macro Transition: Moving from "Big Model" monoliths to "Lots of Little Models" where distributed Bayesian assets represent specific physical objects.
The Tactical Edge: Prioritize "Object-Centered" architectures that track uncertainty. This allows robots to "phone a friend" when encountering novel data.
The LLM era is hitting a wall of implicit representation. The next 12 months belong to those building explicit, causal world models grounded in physics rather than language.
The Macro Trend: The transition from static benchmarks to live human-in-the-loop evaluation. As models saturate fixed tests, the only remaining signal is subjective human preference at scale.
The Tactical Edge: Monitor secret model drops on Arena to spot frontier capabilities before official releases. This provides a lead time advantage for builders choosing their tech stack.
The Bottom Line: Arena is the new kingmaker. If you are building AI products, their expert-tier data is the most reliable map for navigating the frontier.
The move from small models to medium models (15B to 70B) suggests that reasoning capability is outstripping the desire for low-latency edge deployment.
Implement instruction-following re-rankers to prune your context window. This prevents the model from getting confused by irrelevant data.
Stop building toys. The next year belongs to those who can build full agentic systems that handle billions of tokens without losing the plot.
The Macro Trend: The transition from black box scaling to transparent steering. As models enter regulated industries, the ability to prove why a model made a decision becomes more valuable than the decision itself.
The Tactical Edge: Deploy sidecar models for monitoring. Instead of using expensive LLM-as-a-judge prompts, probe specific internal features to catch hallucinations at the activation level.
The Bottom Line: The next year belongs to the pragmatic researchers. If you cannot explain your model's reasoning, you will not be allowed to deploy it in high-stakes environments.
Dynamic Tao is High-Risk: Approach investments with extreme caution; the market is volatile, and significant capital loss is a tangible risk.
Embrace Unpredictable Innovation: Bittensor's core value lies in its capacity to generate unforeseen, groundbreaking solutions from a global, permissionless, and competitive talent pool.
Substrate Chain Decentralization is Critical: The successful decentralization of Bittensor's foundational layer is a paramount upcoming milestone for its long-term viability, security, and censorship resistance.
Global Takeover: Bitcoin treasury strategies are rapidly globalizing, creating new Bitcoin-proxy investment vehicles in numerous capital markets.
Investor Vigilance: While "Bitcoin plus" returns are alluring, investors must critically assess MNAV multiples and beware of highly leveraged companies lacking strong, transparent leadership.
Reverse Tokenization is Real: Crypto assets are increasingly entering traditional finance via these public companies, fundamentally changing institutional access and perception.
**L1s are Money, Not Stocks:** Stop trying to fit square pegs (L1s) into round holes (DCF models for companies). Their value accrues like money, through network effects and demand for their monetary properties.
**RSOV is Your New Lens:** Use RSOV to gauge the "stickiness" of capital in an L1 ecosystem. A growing RSOV suggests a strengthening monetary base and potentially a rising valuation floor.
**ETH's RSOV Story:** ETH, when viewed through the RSOV lens, appears undervalued relative to assets like Bitcoin, especially considering catalysts like EIP-4844 ("proto-danksharding") and the growth of its L2 ecosystem, which drives ETH's use as a store of value.
Aggressive Execution: The Ethereum Foundation is adopting a "winning" mindset, prioritizing product delivery, engineering excellence, and rapid scaling (e.g., 3x annual gas limit increases).
Deepening Capital Markets: Ethereum is solidifying its position as the primary settlement layer for RWAs and the burgeoning on-chain finance sector, attracting significant institutional interest.
Innovation Frontier: Expect new waves of innovation in NFTs (tied to RWAs and AI) and enhanced L2 interoperability, driven by advancements like real-time ZK proofs.
Stablecoin Shake-Up Looms: Circle's potential sale to Coinbase or Ripple could either fortify Tether's dominance or usher in a new, more controlled USDC, fundamentally altering the competitive landscape.
Decentralization vs. Control: The Sui network freeze post-hack forces a hard look at crypto's soul—is absolute decentralization viable, or will pragmatic interventions become the norm?
Institutional Inflows Demand Real Value: Beyond Bitcoin, the survival and growth of stablecoins and altcoins hinge on delivering tangible utility and robust security, not just speculative narratives.
