Borrow against wTAO
Teller pools accept wTAO, wrapped Bittensor TAO, as collateral on Ethereum at up to 28.6% LTV, lending USDC at 25% APR. Every loan is fixed-term with no margin-call, so a price fall during the loan cannot liquidate your collateral.
| Collateral | Network | LTV | APR |
|---|---|---|---|
| wTAO | Ethereum | 28.6% | 25% |
Pool data read . Rates and LTVs are set per pool and change when operators change them.
Emissions arrive in TAO, and the bills do not
Bittensor pays miners and validators in TAO for work done on its subnets, which leaves a familiar problem: the rewards are in one asset and the hardware, power and hosting are in another. Selling emissions to cover running costs is the default answer and it steadily reduces the position that produces them.
Borrowing avoids that. Teller pools take wTAO at 28.6% LTV and 25% APR, lending USDC against 0x77e06c9eccf2e797fd462a92b6d7642ef85b0a44 on Ethereum, which lets a month of costs come out of the holding rather than out of the stack.
Wrapped, because Bittensor is not an EVM chain
TAO lives on its own network, which does not host Ethereum-style contracts, so a pool cannot hold it directly. wTAO is the ERC-20 representation on Ethereum, and it is what the row above refers to. Native TAO in a Bittensor wallet has to be bridged before any of this applies.
The wrapper adds a counterparty for the term, alongside the pool. That applies to any non-EVM asset used as collateral here.
Match the term to the cycle
Costs recur monthly and these pools run a 30-day payment cycle, which lines up unusually neatly. Rate, LTV and the roll window lock when the loan opens, so a borrower covering operating costs knows the whole cost of doing so before committing. Roll it at the due date or repay from the next tranche of emissions.
The loan
Every loan is fixed-term with no margin-call, so a price fall during the loan cannot liquidate your collateral. Miss the due date and the collateral is forfeit. Mainnet gas applies across the approval and the borrow.
See the DeFi collateral page for the rest of the Ethereum set.
Frequently asked questions
No. Bittensor runs its own network without Ethereum-style contracts, so a pool cannot hold TAO directly. Bridge to wTAO on Ethereum first.
Selling to cover hardware, power and hosting steadily reduces the position that produces the emissions. A loan takes the costs out of the holding's value instead of out of the stack.
The pools run a 30-day payment cycle, which lines up with monthly operating costs. Roll at the due date or repay from the next tranche of emissions.
A counterparty for the term of the loan, alongside the pool. That applies to any non-EVM asset used as collateral here.
Nothing happens to the loan. There is no liquidation threshold during the term, so the obligation on the due date is unchanged.
Open a loan
Connect a wallet, deposit your collateral, and borrow a stablecoin. No credit check, no application.
Go to the borrow tab →No collateral to pledge? Check whether you pre-qualify for a no-collateral personal loan. Soft check, no hard pull.