General Tensor has officially reintroduced RoundTable21 under a new name: General Tensor Validator (GTV). The announcement means more than a cosmetic update, it underscores the company’s expanding role within the Bittensor ecosystem and its growing conviction around long-term infrastructure ownership in decentralized AI networks.
Importantly, the fundamentals remain unchanged. The validator continues to be operated by the same WildSageLabs team that has managed it since inception, and it still runs from the same underground data center infrastructure widely recognized within the Bittensor community for its reliability. According to the company, the rebrand reflects strategic maturation rather than operational restructuring.
“This isn’t a pivot,” said Mike Grantis, CEO and Co-Founder of General Tensor. “The operators are the same. The infrastructure is the same. What’s evolved is our clarity and conviction about the role we play in supporting Bittensor’s long-term success.”
From Historic Acquisition to Majority Ownership
General Tensor first entered Bittensor’s validator landscape in October 2024, when it acquired a 50% stake in RoundTable21 – a transaction that marked the network’s first validator acquisition. By mid-2025, the company increased its ownership to a controlling position, while Lvna Capital maintained a minority stake. Lvna has remained a strategic backer during General Tensor’s expansion.
The gradual consolidation reflects a broader infrastructure thesis: pairing disciplined capital allocation with deep ecosystem alignment. Rather than building entirely new validators from scratch, General Tensor opted to scale through strategic acquisition and operational continuity.
The rebrand to General Tensor Validator formalizes that alignment.
Strengthening the Validator Layer
Within Bittensor, validators play a critical role in maintaining subnet integrity and ensuring the authenticity of AI-generated outputs. As decentralized AI networks mature, validator performance and governance are becoming increasingly central to network trust and enterprise adoption.
By maintaining the same operators and infrastructure, General Tensor appears focused on minimizing risk while reinforcing long-term stability – an approach that may resonate with institutional participants evaluating exposure to decentralized AI ecosystems.
The new “GTV” identity also carries symbolic weight. It nods to the company’s origins as General TAO Ventures, preserving a connection to its early roots in the Bittensor ecosystem while reflecting its broader infrastructure ambitions today.
General Tensor has positioned itself as a core infrastructure participant in the open-source AI economy. Beyond validation, the company operates mining activities, develops high-performance subnet infrastructure, and builds user-facing decentralized finance applications designed to accelerate adoption. In addition, General Tensor actively collaborates with developers, researchers, and node operators to strengthen network reliability and scalability. The company invests in optimizing compute efficiency, improving incentive mechanisms, and supporting secure protocol upgrades that enhance long-term sustainability. By contributing technical expertise and ecosystem tooling, it lowers barriers for new participants entering decentralized AI networks. Through continuous innovation, strategic partnerships, and community-driven governance support, General Tensor aims to create a resilient, transparent, and economically aligned foundation for the future of decentralized artificial intelligence systems worldwide and beyond globally.
Its strategy combines internal product development with selective acquisitions of fintech protocols, enabling it to layer a growing user base on top of its infrastructure footprint.
