Bittensor-focussed infrastructure firm xTAO made its public debut on Canada’s TSX Venture Exchange, after raising $22.8 million from Animoca, DCG and other institutional funds, to scale its validator operations and support the growth of decentralized artificial intelligence (AI). The company will use the funds to expand its validator operations and build real-world products on top of Bittensor’s open network. xTAO's listing comes just days after TAO Synergies announced a $10 million purchase of the TAO token , signaling growing institutional interest in decentralized AI infrastructure. While TAO Synergies made its bet as a treasury allocation, xTAO aims to provide the tooling and validation layers that help the network scale. "Our public listing and financing mark important milestones for xTAO, as we execute on our mission of advancing decentralized AI," said Karia Samaroo, founder and CEO of xTAO. "Bittensor is rapidly emerging as the ‘Bitcoin of AI,' and xTAO will be well-positioned to capitalize on its growth potential through the operation of our validator and our use of TAO as our treasury reserve asset," Samaroo added. TAO is trading above $440, according to CoinDesk market data , up 5.5% in the last 24 hours. It's outperformed the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) , an index of the largest digital assets, which is trading flat. Analysts are optimistic about the AI token asset class as more retail traders look to get exposure to frontier artificial intelligence companies, especially as some of the established players in the space look to restrict investment. Read more: TAO Synergies Becomes Largest Public Holder of Bittensor Token With $10M Purchase