DATA Network Retires Its Own Chain and Moves to Sui, Backed by $30M
The AI training-data protocol formerly known as Story will run natively on Sui, with Walrus as default storage and Sui Foundation as its largest institutional holder.
DATA Network, the AI training-data protocol formerly known as Story, will retire its independent blockchain and move to Sui. Sui Foundation is investing $30 million as part of the partnership, announced on October 12.
The deal
According to The Block, DATA Network will be upgraded to run as a protocol natively on Sui, and its standalone chain will be shut down. The existing DATA token will move to Sui one-to-one. Sui Foundation will become the network's largest institutional holder, alongside existing stakeholders PIP Labs and DATA Foundation.
Walrus will become the default storage layer for applications run by DATA Foundation. The current DATA chain keeps running until the migration is complete. The partners say a detailed timeline and holder transition plan will be published before the upgrade. No date has been announced yet.
Why move
A DATA Foundation spokesperson told Cointelegraph that running a dedicated chain for a single use case meant carrying the costs of validators, network security and infrastructure. "Building storage and access control at that scale ourselves would have meant rebuilding what Sui already has in Walrus and Seal," they said. Seal is Sui's access-control and encryption tool.
Asked whether the $30 million drove the decision, the spokesperson said the investment was a separate part of the partnership.
What Trace does
The centerpiece is Trace, a registry launched in June that tracks where AI training data comes from and who holds the rights to use it, and pays the people who contributed it. DATA Foundation says Trace has recorded more than 250 million contributions since launch and processes an average of more than 3 million receipts per day. The pitch to AI labs is a source of real-world training data they are cleared to use.
Why it matters
A live project dropping its own chain to build on another one is uncommon. The move strengthens the case for Sui and Walrus as a data layer for AI, and it fits with Sui's agent-focused announcements at Basecamp. DATA holders should watch for the migration timeline.
Sources
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