This Week In Startups is made possible by: Every Banking - http://Every.io Lemon.io - https://lemon.io/twist Wispr Flow - https://wisprflow.ai/twist Plaud - https://plaud.ai/twist * Today’s show: *Sure, we all love open source models, but what about completely decentralized AI? Rather than leaving the big decision-making in the hands of a few elite CEOs, shouldn’t users have a say — and potentially even a stake — in how this incredible technology develops? On TWiST, we welcome Ala Shaabana of Crucible Labs, one of the co-founders of Bittensor. It’s an open-source protocol powering a blockchain-based machine learning network. What does that mean? Users mine a crypto token — $TAO — but rather than using up their compute on solving extremely long equations, they devote it to actually powering a range of innovative AI apps (aka subnets). Plus we’ve got Mark Jeffrey, co-founder of the Bittensor Fund Stillcore Capital, to show us some of his favorite subnet projects, and walk us through how he trained his AI agent to mine crpyto. All that AND two amazing new OpenClaw demos. Mark Jeffrey: https://x.com/markjeffrey Stillcore Capital: https://stillcorecapital.com/ Ala Shaabana (Crucible Labs): https://x.com/CrucibleLabs Michael Ryaboy (Setup Claw): https://setupclaw.com/ Pete and Maddie Reese (Bizzby AI): https://bizzby.ai/ **Timestamps:** 00:00 Intro 04:11 The booming intersection of crypto, and AI agents 05:49 Mark Jeffrey joins the show! 06:13 Bittensor explained — how TAO subsidizes AI products 07:37 Mark’s top Bittensor projects 09:52 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit http://every.io/ 12:20 How subnet tokens work 17:34 How the Crucible Labs wallet simplifies subnet token allocation 18:45 Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://lemon.io/twist 28:20 OpenClaw + crypto mining demo 28:48 *Wispr Flow:* Stop typing. Dictate with Wispr Flow and send clean, final-draft writing in seconds. Visit https://wisprflow.ai/twist to get started for free today. 31:28 Free market for compute across storage, GPUs, and AI 33:07 How AI is restoring old movies and media! 40:57 SetUpClaw — “set it and forget it” AI agents 48:08 Startup-in-a-box for the AI economy 54:35 "Off-duty" with Lon and Jason * Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: [https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com](https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com/) Check out the TWIST500: https://twist500.com Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp * Follow Lon: X: https://x.com/lons * Follow Alex: X: https://x.com/alex LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm/) * Follow Jason: X: https://twitter.com/Jason LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis/) * Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/ * Great TWIST interviews: [Will Guidara,](https://youtu.be/pvJa2pzuXWQ) [Eoghan McCabe](https://youtu.be/9dHN4YFkgv4), [Steve Huffman](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-on-mod-revolt-building-a/id315114957?i=1000617333424), [Brian Chesky](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/airbnb-ceo-brian-chesky-on-early-rejection-customer/id315114957?i=1000611761112), [Bob Moesta,](https://youtu.be/y2UMzSqX94Q) [Aaron Levie](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/box-ceo-aaron-levie-breaks-down-box-ai-and-generative/id315114957?i=1000612384545), [Sophia Amoruso](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/sophia-amoruso-on-branding-raising-a-fund-portfolio/id315114957?i=1000601352978), [Reid Hoffman](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/reid-hoffman-on-ais-crescendo-moment-regulation-and/id315114957?i=1000612548498), [Frank Slootman](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/snowflake-ceo-frank-slootman-on-moving-the-needle-win/id315114957?i=1000602560622), [Billy McFarland](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/billy-mcfarland-on-fyre-fest-fraud-failure-hacking/id315114957?i=1000610922577) * Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis * Follow TWiST: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups](https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups/) TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups Substack: [https://twistartups.substack.com](https://twistartups.substack.com/)