Douglas Albert and Alex Kiriakides, co-founders of the Bittensor staking platform TrustedStake, break down their journey from early crypto mining to building a non-custodial solution that simplifies subnet investing through automated, indexed strategies. They provide a masterclass in how to abstract away complexity to unlock capital flow into a burgeoning decentralized AI ecosystem.
From Bitcoin Mining to a Bittensor Belief
The Non-Custodial Staking Solution
Indexes and Automated Yield Optimization
An Ethical Mission to Onboard Capital
Key Takeaways:
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This episode unpacks the journey of TrustedStake's founders, from early Bitcoin mining to building a non-custodial staking platform that tackles the growing complexity of Bittensor's subnet ecosystem for investors.
Founders' Journey: From Schoolyard Projects to Crypto Mining
Douglas Albert and Alex Kiriakides share a long history, having met in middle school and collaborated on various entrepreneurial projects, including a marketing agency and a pressure washing company. Their entry into crypto was hands-on, working for free at a Greenville, South Carolina-based mining company called Trace Blockchain. This experience provided a foundational education in Bitcoin mining, liquid submersion cooling, and market analysis, setting the stage for their future ventures.
Alex, reflecting on their early dynamic, notes that Douglas was always the technical expert in their friend group, while he focused on the entrepreneurial side. This partnership evolved from early business ideas directly into the crypto space, where they gained practical experience with ASICs and trading fundamentals from industry mentors.
Launching a Fund and Discovering Bittensor
Leveraging their experience, Alex and Douglas launched a friends-and-family crypto investment fund. They navigated the 2021 bull market with a basket of altcoins but faced significant challenges during the 2022 bear market, marked by the FTX collapse. It was during this period of market turmoil, in July 2022, that Alex stumbled upon Bittensor through a post on X (formerly Twitter).
With minimal information available, their research led them to the whitepaper. Alex presented it to Douglas, who, after initial skepticism, became convinced of its potential. Douglas recalls the moment of clarity: "I was pretty mad that we wasted a month... I immediately texted Alex. I was like yeah this is it. Let's let's go heads down on on this one." This conviction prompted them to liquidate other assets and invest heavily in TAO.
First Impressions: The "Bitcoin Whitepaper Vibe"
Douglas describes his first reading of the Bittensor whitepaper as a profound experience, reminiscent of his initial encounter with the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2013. He saw a clear vision for something valuable and necessary, a perfect intersection of his interests in finance and computers.
Beyond the technicals, the early Bittensor community on Discord stood out. Unlike the bot-filled, speculative channels common in crypto, Bittensor's was populated by ML researchers, AI engineers, and seasoned developers. This high-signal environment, combined with the core team's successful execution from the early testnet (Nakamoto) to the mainnet (Finney), solidified their belief in the project's long-term viability.
Bittensor's Evolution and the Rise of DTAO
Having been involved since the single-subnet era, Alex and Douglas have witnessed Bittensor's significant evolution. They highlight the network's resilience through challenges like the "Floppy Fish" network break and other black swan events. Alex identifies the DTAO (Dynamic TAO) update as the most critical change, which transformed the network by splintering it into distinct, competitive intelligence markets for each subnet.
Douglas agrees, emphasizing that the DTAO launch was a massive architectural shift that was executed flawlessly, a testament to the development team's capability.
TrustedStake: Solving the Complexity of Subnet Staking
The DTAO proposal in February 2024 was the catalyst for TrustedStake. The founders anticipated that the proliferation of subnets—now potentially reaching 128—would overwhelm the average TAO investor, creating a barrier to entry. Their solution leverages the Proxy Pallet, a feature native to the Polkadot/Substrate framework on which Bittensor is built.
This technology allows TrustedStake to manage staking allocations on behalf of users in a non-custodial manner. Users retain full control of their funds, while TrustedStake can diversify their stake across subnets and optimize yield without posing a security risk.
Platform Features: Indexes and Hourly Yield Optimization
TrustedStake offers curated staking strategies through indexes, simplifying investment for users. Current offerings include:
A key feature is the hourly rebalancer, which automatically optimizes staking allocations across both subnets and validators to maximize yield. Douglas explains that this system is designed to be highly efficient, batching transactions to reduce fees while reacting quickly to market changes.
Investment Thesis and a Pledge to Network Health
TrustedStake's investment thesis focuses on providing diverse, accessible options for investors. They plan to launch sector-specific indexes (e.g., DeSci, AI Compute, Trading) and a comprehensive "Bittensor Universe Index" to offer broad market exposure.
Crucially, the platform has a "moral pledge" to delegate only to validators that do not engage in weight copying—a practice where validators mimic others' work instead of performing genuine validation. This commitment supports honest network participants, even if it means a negligible difference in APY. Douglas frames their mission as onboarding capital to fund legitimate, innovative companies building on Bittensor, such as Corcel and Taoshi.
Business Model and Final Advice
TrustedStake generates revenue by running a child hotkey validator. This validator delegates to the high-performing, honest validators within their indexes and charges a take rate on the staking rewards generated. This take rate functions as a management fee, which they argue is offset by the yield optimization from their hourly rebalancer.
Alex’s final advice for newcomers is to be curious, do the research, and find genuine enjoyment in the process. He emphasizes that deep engagement with the ecosystem's economics and business models is more valuable than a formal education, as it leads to discovering a niche where one can create value.
Conclusion
This episode highlights how increasing network complexity in ecosystems like Bittensor creates opportunities for sophisticated, user-friendly abstraction layers. For investors and researchers, TrustedStake exemplifies a critical trend: the emergence of non-custodial tools that simplify access, optimize yield, and enforce network health, ultimately lowering the barrier to entry for broader capital allocation.
