General Tensor Acquires Backprop Finance in $5M Deal

General Tensor, a protocol operating in the Bittensor ecosystem, has acquired Backprop Finance, a decentralized trading venue, for $5 million. The acquisition is part of a combined pre-seed and seed round that includes investments from Digital Currency Group (DCG), Lvna Capital, and Good Morning Holdings.

The deal highlights institutional conviction behind Bittensor's trading rails and the potential of AI-crypto projects to attract traditional finance backing. Backprop Finance had carved out a reputation as a venue for traders to route AI-model exposure without leaving the Bittensor subnet structure.

With the acquisition, General Tensor gains immediate volume and liquidity, reducing the go-to-market timeline for any trading products it builds next. The deal also points toward vertical integration becoming the preferred model on AI blockchains, where acquirers can shape fee structures, MEV policy, and listing decisions across what may become the dominant trading interface.