RedTeam, a subnet on Bittensor operated by cybersecurity firm Innerworks, pits miners against one another in competitive security challenges — effectively turning a decentralized mining network into a global force of ethical hackers. Bittensor is a decentralized network where specialized subnets compete to produce useful machine intelligence outputs in exchange for TAO, its native token; RedTeam applies that competitive model to cybersecurity rather than conventional proof-of-work mining. The results after 11 months of continuous adversarial testing are notable: bot detection efficacy rose from 74.3% to 99.5%.

The project, running under Bittensor's subnet 61 (SN61), is now preparing its next phase: an "Immune System" designed to extend bot detection into real-time attack-and-defense operations, including a new challenge called "Bot Virus" that aims to develop adversarial agents capable of both attacking and defending simultaneously.

How turning miners into hackers actually works

Miners submit code-based solutions to specific security challenges. These solutions are evaluated in controlled environments, and performers earn TAO tokens based on how their submissions compare against the competition. This design effectively outsources continuous red-teaming to a competitive market of security researchers, where poorly performing submissions are economically penalized rather than simply discarded.

Since launching in late 2024, RedTeam has run 14 distinct challenges, deprecating 9 of them as the network's capabilities matured past their difficulty thresholds. The challenges span a range of security scenarios, from human-behavior mimicry to automation bypass testing.

Miners submit Docker-based solutions, meaning each entry is a self-contained software package that can be spun up and tested in isolation.

While the 99.5% bot detection figure is the headline statistic, the more telling number may be this: while RedTeam's network sharpened its detection capabilities, the average performance rate of competing systems fell to just 14.6%.

Enterprise traction beyond the subnet

Innerworks has integrated its technology with 1inch, the well-known DeFi aggregation protocol, and with a major messaging application serving more than 100 million daily active users.

Beyond those two integrations, five additional enterprise applications are currently being tested on the platform. Together, those five carry valuations exceeding $22 billion, and each processes more than 1 billion transactions per week.

The Immune System and what comes next

The centerpiece of the next phase is the "Bot Virus" challenge, which flips the traditional attacker-defender paradigm. Instead of miners only building better detectors, they will also be tasked with creating adversarial agents that can simultaneously attack and defend.

The Immune System will feature encrypted submissions, a design choice intended to prevent miners from copying one another's work. It will also introduce enhanced incentive structures designed to reward continuous innovation rather than one-time breakthroughs.

On the economic side, Innerworks plans to initiate alpha token buybacks funded through revenue from its SaaS operations, alongside locked profits and upcoming emissions.