Why the room needs them.
Mike Grantis is co-founder and CEO of General Tensor, which builds validator, mining and DeFi infrastructure on the Bittensor network. Grantis spoke at Proof of Talk Paris 2026 on TensorFi and the Bittensor Proof of Pitch.
The full account.
Mike Grantis is co-founder and chief executive of General Tensor, a company that builds validator, mining, subnet and application infrastructure on the Bittensor network. The company was formerly General TAO Ventures, and its own about page dates its origins to 2023, when it began as a subnet foundry.
Grantis also co-founded Contango Digital Assets, which its podcast listing describes as a venture firm focused on building and investing in companies that make web3 globally accessible. The Contango Podcast, which Grantis hosted, ran 24 episodes across 2023 and 2024, including two Bittensor episodes in February 2024, one of them on Corcel and Taostats.
In October 2024 General Tensor, then General TAO Ventures, bought a 50 per cent stake in the RoundTable21 validator, which the company describes as the network's first validator acquisition, and by mid-2025 it was majority owner. In February 2026 it renamed the validator General Tensor Validator. Announcing the change, Grantis said the operators and the infrastructure remained the same. On 11 March 2026 the company announced that it had closed $5 million across pre-seed and seed rounds, to expand validator operations, develop subnet infrastructure and scale consumer-facing DeFi applications. On 14 May 2026 it announced the purchase of Backprop Finance, a trading terminal for Dynamic TAO subnet tokens, from Tensorplex Labs. A week later it announced a partnership with the Talisman wallet.
A recurring argument in those announcements is that producing TAO beats buying it. The company says its vertical integration of mining, validating and subnet infrastructure generates TAO at roughly 40 times the cost efficiency of buying and holding, and Grantis has framed that as operational alpha over passive accumulation.
At Proof of Talk Paris 2026, Grantis spoke at two sessions on 3 June. The first, "TensorFi: Unlocking DeFi for the Bittensor Economy", ran from 12:30 to 13:15 on the X Ventures Masterclass Stage, alongside Ken Miyachi. SimplyTao's recap of the event reports that General Tensor and Talisman ran a DeFi panel around TensorFi. The second, "Proof of Pitch - Bittensor Track Live Crowdfunding with Bitstarter", ran from 17:15 to 19:00 on the Taostats Stage, with Jacob Steeves, Marcus (Mog) Graichen and Chris Zacharia. General Tensor and Talisman were co-sponsors of the event's Bittensor track.
What Mike believes about the next ten years.
Years of shipping.
Lines that keep proving correct.
“Operational alpha outperforms passive accumulation. We generate TAO at a fraction of market cost.”
“This isn't a change in direction – it's the natural outcome of our growth.”
“Talisman owns the front door to Bittensor. We build and operate the infrastructure it interacts with.”
What they have built, written, and backed.
Built
- General Tensor ValidatorThe former RoundTable21 validator on Bittensor, acquired in stages from October 2024 and renamed in February 2026, with the same operators and infrastructure.
- Backprop Finance (acquired)A trading terminal for Dynamic TAO subnet tokens, bought from Tensorplex Labs in May 2026, with a swap terminal, subnet screener, trader leaderboard, portfolio view and whale alerts.
- The Contango PodcastA web3 investment interview series hosted by Grantis, 24 episodes across 2023 and 2024, including two on Bittensor in February 2024.
Mike at Proof of Talk Paris 2026
The next Proof of Talk is in Abu Dhabi.
Louvre Abu Dhabi, 3–4 December 2026. Admission is by application, and the room is capped at 2,000.
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