The RedTeam subnet by Innerworks is a decentralized platform designed to drive innovation in cybersecurity through competitive programming challenges.
SN 61. Rank 26 of 32 by emission
RedTeam
Emission1.2%of the block reward · rank 26 of 32
Participants40 miners · 11 validators
Registration0.0691 TAO
Verified2026-09-09links checked and scores merged
The programsecurity · github.com@593cbaa · read 2026-09-19
The work
Code that solves a security challenge. Two are active at this commit: bot_virus_v1, a bot that spreads across a test network, and ada_detection_v3, detecting commercial anti-detect browsers. A miner packages the solution as a Docker image, commits an encrypted pointer on chain, and it is revealed after 24 hours. What is paid for is a solution that scores above the previous best and is not a copy.
own docs · raw.githubusercontent.com
The subnet incentivizes miners to develop and submit code solutions to various technical challenges, with a focus on enhancing security.
How it is scored
Per challenge, the validator runs the submission in a sandbox and gives a raw score from 0 to 1 against the previous best; below the challenge minimum, 0.85 for bot_virus_v1 and 0.5 for ada_detection_v3, it is not accepted. The penalty is the highest code-similarity score against other submissions. The final score is raw less penalty by a scoring algorithm, then decays linearly over 14 days.
own docs · docs.theredteam.io
points decaying linearly over a 14-day period
Sources disagree The docs root and the repository's docs/README.md say points decay linearly over 14 days; the dashboard concept page says decay starts once a submission is 10 days old and runs over approximately 10 to 15 days; the per-challenge managers that apply the decay run inside the challenge Docker images and are not in the repository.
How the pay splits
Proportional within each challenge, then weighted across challenges: ada_detection_v3 carries 0.6 of the miner share and bot_virus_v1 0.4. Within a challenge each miner's decayed final score is normalised over all miners and only the best entry per entity is kept. A challenge with no scores has its weight redistributed to the others in proportion. No burn is applied in the code at this commit.
code · raw.githubusercontent.com · src/redteam_core/challenge_pool/active_challenges.yaml
challenge_incentive_weight: 0.6
Who judges
Eleven validators were active on the 2026-09-09 chain snapshot, of 64 permitted. Weights are committed then revealed, at most once per 100 blocks. A validator decrypts each commit after 24 hours, pulls the miner's Docker image, runs it against the challenge container in its own sandbox with 4 CPUs and 12 GB, and calls a challenge scoring API. The loop that calls set_weights is not in the repository.
chain · hyperparams-2026-09-19.json
commit_reveal_weights_enabled True, weights_rate_limit 100, max_validators 64; chain-2026-09-09.json active_validators 11
How often it turns
Emission settles every 360 blocks, about 72 minutes. The validator's own epoch is 1,200 seconds, 20 minutes, and a commit is scored only once it is 24 hours old, the commit cooldown, so a new submission enters scoring a day after it lands. Submissions are scored once a day and a score fades over about two weeks. A new registration is immune from deregistration for 14,400 blocks, about 48 hours.
chain · hyperparams-2026-09-19.json
tempo 360, immunity_period 14400
Who buys
Nobody today. The front page promises a library of security solutions accessible to enterprises and the README says solutions can be integrated into real-world products, but there is no product page, API, price or named customer, and the site's copyright reads 2024. The miner's income is emission.
our reading · theredteam.io
A secure platform for 'red team' actors to earn TAO while competing against the best minds in the industry.
What has been gamed
Copying: the penalty is the highest similarity to any other submission, past or same-day, identical re-submissions are rejected, and commits stay encrypted for 24 hours so a rival cannot copy inside the window. Many hotkeys for one operator: submissions sharing an IP, a Docker Hub username or a coldkey are grouped and only the best is paid. An earlier alpha-burn weight in the scoring is commented out.
code · raw.githubusercontent.com · src/redteam_core/validator/miner_manager.py
Keep only the best-scoring submission among miners that are considered the same entity.
4 of 7 fields rest on the chain or the code. A manifest is the site's reading of the subnet's program, not a review; each field links its source. All programs · What a field means · Correct a field
What it says
The subnet in its own words: the line the index took from its front door, and what the team has said on the record.
What it shows
Explained from zero by the index, from the subnet's own materials, for someone who has never heard of Bittensor.
SN61 RedTeam runs a lockpicking league for the web, where hackers are paid to build bots that slip past detection systems and tools that catch them, and every winning entry loses its value after fifteen days.
The commodity, explained from zero
Websites run detection systems to tell humans from bots and to spot disguised browsers. A "red team" is the group hired to attack your own defences so you find the holes first. RedTeam, run by a company called Innerworks, turns that into a standing contest: it posts programming challenges, and the chain description says miners "develop and submit code solutions to various technical challenges, with a focus on enhancing security."
Two challenges are active today. Bot Virus asks for a browser bot that completes a task while passing bot-detection checks: a pick that opens the lock. Anti-Detect Browser Detection asks for code that identifies which commercial anti-detect browser is driving a session without flagging real people: a better lock. Six other challenges are listed as inactive.
The unit of output is a code solution. Who buys it is not stated in the present tense. The front page promises a library of security solutions "accessible to enterprises worldwide", and the 2024 whitepaper puts enterprise bounties, where a company pays to post a challenge, on the roadmap with no price. That is where the league comparison breaks: a league sells tickets, and here nobody has yet said who pays for the winning picks.
Why it is on Bittensor at all
The materials make a generic claim, "a safe, decentralized platform built for the sharpest minds in cybersecurity", and the whitepaper adds that existing detectors lack a continuously adapting method. Concretely, Bittensor supplies the prize money: miners earn the subnet's token for beating the previous best, so a challenge does not need a paying customer to fund it. Nothing is said about cost, censorship, or ownership against a centralized bug-bounty platform.
How the work gets done
Miners write a solution to a challenge, encrypt it, and submit; validators, the judges who decide pay, wait 24 hours before decrypting so nobody can copy a rival's entry in the same window. Validators then run each entry in an isolated sandbox and give it a raw score from 0 to 1 against the previous best, subtract a penalty for code similar to other miners' entries, and let the score decay: full value for ten days, sliding to nothing by day fifteen. Emission, the subnet's share of new tokens, follows those final scores, so a miner has to keep improving to keep earning. A new submission replaces the old one immediately.
How you would know it works
No artifact a reader can check exists on the subnet's own pages, in those words. The dashboard at dashboard.theredteam.io is an app that renders only its name to a fetcher, and the site carries no dated results; detection-rate figures exist only in third-party press.
What is missing
The site's copyright reads 2024 and it shows no figures. The decay period is fourteen days on the docs root and fifteen on the dashboard page, with formulas only in the whitepaper. There is no product page, API, price, or status page; the Discord link is a channel in the shared Bittensor server. Registration cost and the deregistration policy are not stated.
Go deeper
Sources for this explainer
- https://www.theredteam.io/
- https://docs.theredteam.io/latest/
- https://docs.theredteam.io/latest/challenges/
- https://docs.theredteam.io/latest/miner/concepts/dashboard/
- https://docs.theredteam.io/latest/getting-started/miner/
- https://dashboard.theredteam.io
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RedTeamSubnet/RedTeam/main/README.md
- https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/67531c85b03434359fffb2ab/6759b1263189b1af2416a6a8_RedTe
Metaphor: a lockpicking league. Every claim is drawn from the evidence set or the subnet's own materials; "(inferred)" marks a conclusion rather than a quote. Corrections.
How legible it is
Four audiences, four questions each, rated on what a first-time reader can find in five minutes. The scale measures findability, not quality.
On-chain identity 6/7- subnet_name
- RedTeam
- github_repo
- github.com
- subnet_contact
- oscar@theredteam.io
- subnet_url
- theredteam.io
- discord
- discord.com
- description
- "The RedTeam subnet by Innerworks is a decentralized platform designed to drive innovation in cybersecurity through competitive programming challenges. The subnet incentivizes miners to develop and submit code solutions to various technical challenges, with a focus on enhancing security. These solutions can be integrated into real-world products to improve their security features."
- additional
- not set
Stakers and validators●●●●● 2.5
Should I allocate here? · rank 26 of 32 for this audience
Q1What it is●●●●● 3
A secure platform for 'red team' actors to earn TAO while competing against the best minds in the industry.
Output is code solutions to security challenges, no unit or price, the chain description is a full paragraph repeated in the README
Q2Who it is for●●●●● 1
no usage figure, customer or revenue on the site (copyright 2024) or docs, the Medium blog returns 403, third-party press cites a 1inch integration and a detection rate rise
Q3How it resists gaming or fails●●●●● 3
docs root says points are awarded on quality against the previous best with decay over 14 days, the dashboard concept page says no decay days 0 to 10 then decay to day 15, the incentive page is mostly generic Bittensor text with a similarity penalty, the whitepaper has point formulas, scattered and inconsistent
Q4Identity and documentation●●●●● 3
identity 6 of 7, github and url resolve, contact oscar@theredteam.io matches the front page mailto, discord is a channel in the shared Opentensor server, no staker page, a validator guide exists
Miners●●●●● 3.3
Can I compete, and what wins? · rank 18 of 32 for this audience
Q1What it is●●●●● 3
The RedTeam Challenge Menu provides access to various challenges designed to test and evaluate miners' technical capabilities across different security and automation domains.
seven challenges with one line each, two marked inactive, specs live in per challenge READMEs, no schema on the index
Q2Who it is for●●●●● 3
OS: Linux-based (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS+ recommended)
with CPU 2+ cores, 8GB RAM, 50GB storage, registration via the wallet manual with no cost stated (chain burn 0.055 TAO today), competitiveness stated as beating the previous best with similarity thresholds in the FAQ
Q3How it resists gaming or fails●●●●● 3
raw score 0 to 1, a similarity penalty and a final score after decay, a new commit immediately replaces the old one, formulas only in the whitepaper, no example numbers on the docs, no deregistration policy, decay period differs between pages
Q4Identity and documentation●●●●● 4
step by step getting started guide with clone, compose and dashboard steps, release notes 4.10.1 dated 2026-08-27 and CHANGELOG 4.10.4 dated 2026-09-09, docs are versioned
Buyers and enterprises●●●●● 1.8
Can I use this today? · rank 23 of 32 for this audience
Q1What it is●●●●● 2
Build a library of cutting-edge security solutions accessible to enterprises worldwide.
no product page, API or way for a company to reach the solutions, the whitepaper roadmap puts enterprise bounties in the future
Q2Who it is for●●●●● 1
the whitepaper roadmap says validators could charge a fee for submitting an enterprise bounty priced by complexity and duration, future tense, no price, enterprises the only customer type named
Q3How it resists gaming or fails●●●●● 2
mailto oscar@theredteam.io and a Discord channel in the shared server, no status page, no SLA, no response time
Q4Identity and documentation●●●●● 2
no API docs, contact oscar@theredteam.io on the front page matches the chain subnet_contact
Newcomers●●●●● 2.8
What is this and why does it matter? · rank 26 of 32 for this audience
Q1What it is●●●●● 3
Harness Red Team Ingenuity to Tackle the Internet's Challenges
with a plain sentence on turning detection bypass skills into rewarded work, the chain description is a readable paragraph, red team and detection mechanisms left unexplained
Q2Who it is for●●●●● 2
Compete, innovate, and earn in a safe, decentralized platform built for the sharpest minds in cybersecurity.
a generic decentralized claim, the whitepaper adds that existing detectors lack a continuously adaptive method
Q3How it resists gaming or fails●●●●● 2
the dashboard is a Streamlit app that renders only its name to a fetcher, no dated results on the site or docs, detection rate figures exist only in third-party press
Q4Identity and documentation●●●●● 4
subnet_name RedTeam matches the site, description is a human paragraph, url resolves, the docs have an About and FAQ section while the site itself has no about page
Provenance
How this rating came to be. Verified means the scorer fetched the page and the words are on it; secondhand means concluded from code, absence, or a third party. The link badge is a separate automated check made before publication.
scored by agent b 2026-09-09, rubric v1.0merged 2026-09-09links verified 2026-09-09: 36 live, 0 unreachable, 0 manual
Something wrong? Corrections of fact are applied as they arrive during the window; rating disputes are batched at its close. How to file one · GitHub issue · email.