DATA to Retire Its Blockchain and Move to Sui After $30 Million Investment

What to Know

• DATA, formerly known as Story Protocol, is retiring its own blockchain and moving to Sui after a $30 million investment from Sui Foundation.
• The startup previously raised $140 million and set out to bring a wide range of intellectual property onchain, including music royalties, patents and trademarks.
• CEO Andrea Muttoni said the company found established licensing markets difficult to disrupt and had spread itself too thin across multiple forms of intellectual property.
• DATA rebranded from Story Protocol to DATA Foundation in June and is now concentrating on AI training data rather than broad intellectual property licensing.
• The company’s main product, Trace, records where AI training data comes from, who contributed it, the consent terms attached to it and subsequent licensing or payment events.
• Kled, a marketplace that pays people to contribute data, is adding between 3 million and 4 million contributions a day to Trace, including older records being brought onto the system.
• DATA plans to migrate its existing token to Sui on a one-to-one basis, with holders retaining their rights and vesting schedules unchanged.
• Sui Foundation will become DATA Network’s largest institutional holder through the investment, while DATA says Sui is taking a hands-off approach to product plans.

DATA Narrows Its Blockchain Ambitions Around AI Data

DATA, the blockchain startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z crypto and previously known as Story Protocol, is making a major strategic shift. The company is shutting down its own blockchain and migrating to Sui after receiving a $30 million investment from Sui Foundation, a move that redirects its resources toward AI training data verification rather than maintaining standalone layer one infrastructure.

The decision marks a significant turn for a company that once aimed to bring large categories of intellectual property onchain. When the Bellevue, Washington-based startup was founded in 2022, its plan stretched across music royalties, patents, trademarks and other rights-heavy markets. The idea was to let owners register intellectual property on a blockchain and define terms for how others could use it. In practice, DATA found that many of those industries already had entrenched licensing systems, while major rights holders had limited appetite for permissionless licensing models.

CEO Andrea Muttoni has framed the earlier strategy as overly broad, saying the company had been trying to address too many forms of intellectual property at once. That lesson shaped the company’s rebrand to DATA Foundation in June and set the stage for a tighter focus on the fast-growing market for AI training data. Rather than trying to remake multiple legacy licensing industries, DATA is now concentrating on a more specific problem: how buyers can verify the origin, consent status and usage rights of datasets used to train artificial intelligence models.

Why DATA Is Retiring Its Own Blockchain

Running a dedicated blockchain requires ongoing commitments to engineering, validators, audits and infrastructure providers. For DATA, those costs became harder to justify as its work increasingly centered on a single product rather than a broad layer one ecosystem. The company’s core product, Trace, functions as a registry for AI training data. It records where data comes from, who contributed it, what consent terms apply and what licensing or payment events follow later.

That product focus led the team to ask whether operating its own chain still made sense. By moving to Sui, DATA aims to reduce the operational burden of maintaining a blockchain while keeping its attention on data provenance, auditability and product development. The company’s existing investors, including a16z crypto, remain involved. Muttoni did not disclose how much of the startup’s original $140 million in funding remains.

For crypto markets, the shift is notable because it reflects a broader recalibration among blockchain projects that are trying to find durable demand beyond general-purpose infrastructure. Instead of continuing to support a separate chain for its own sake, DATA is betting that its strongest opportunity lies in becoming a verification layer for AI data transactions. That approach places the company at the intersection of two themes that remain central to digital asset investment narratives: decentralized infrastructure and artificial intelligence.

Trace Targets Provenance and Licensing Gaps in AI Training Data

DATA’s renewed strategy is rooted in the challenges faced by buyers of AI training data. In many cases, market participants have limited visibility into whether datasets are original, properly licensed or exclusive. Muttoni has described situations in which vendors offered supposedly exclusive datasets that were already available through other sellers. In one case, Poseidon, an AI data company incubated by the Story team, was offered its own dataset back by a vendor.

Trace is designed to address those problems by creating verifiable records tied to data contributions. When someone uploads a video or voice recording through a participating data marketplace, Trace can create a receipt for that file. The record may include information such as when the file was submitted, what terms the contributor accepted and whether later licensing or payment activity occurred.

The goal is not necessarily to replace marketplaces that source and sell AI training data. For now, DATA is positioning Trace as infrastructure for auditability and provenance, giving buyers and sellers a way to check records around data origin and rights. Muttoni has not ruled out DATA eventually operating its own marketplace, but no further details have been provided.

Kled, a marketplace that pays people to contribute data, represents a significant share of Trace activity. The platform is adding between 3 million and 4 million contributions a day, including older records being added to Trace. Those figures indicate the amount of data being registered, though they do not necessarily show how much data has been sold. DATA has not disclosed how many records have generated licensing revenue.

Why Sui Fits DATA’s Next Phase

Sui offers DATA a path to continue using blockchain infrastructure without carrying the full responsibilities of running an independent network. The migration also gives DATA access to tools that may support its next product phase. One of those tools is Walrus, a decentralized storage platform that can hold copies of original files registered through Trace. Another is Seal, which can encrypt files and restrict access to buyers with the appropriate permissions.

At present, Trace records information about a file rather than storing the file itself. Adding storage could allow buyers to compare a received file with the original submission, potentially making it easier to detect modifications or inconsistencies. That kind of verification could become more important as AI developers, data brokers and contributors face increasing scrutiny around consent, rights and provenance.

Sui Foundation will become DATA Network’s largest institutional holder through the $30 million investment. Financial details beyond the investment figure were not disclosed. Muttoni has said Sui is taking a hands-off approach to DATA’s product plans, suggesting the company expects to retain flexibility as it builds around Trace and related data infrastructure.

Token Migration Will Happen One-to-One

DATA also plans to move its existing token to Sui on a one-to-one basis. The company’s current blockchain will remain operational until the migration is complete. Existing $DATA tokens are expected to move to Sui one-to-one, while holders retain their rights and vesting schedules unchanged.

For token holders, the one-to-one structure is intended to preserve continuity during the transition. The company has not presented the migration as a token reset or a change to holder rights. Instead, it is positioning the move as an infrastructure shift that allows DATA to focus on the market where it sees stronger demand.

The broader implication is that blockchain projects may increasingly evaluate whether maintaining independent networks is worth the expense when their core business depends more on applications, registries or specialized protocols. DATA’s move to Sui reflects that calculation. The company is not abandoning crypto rails, but it is abandoning the need to operate its own chain as the foundation of its strategy.

AI Training Data Becomes the Main Market Bet

DATA’s pivot comes as more crypto projects look toward artificial intelligence use cases, especially around data ownership, provenance, compute and verification. Muttoni estimates the AI training data market could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars, though the company’s immediate focus is narrower: building infrastructure that makes data easier to audit before it is purchased or used.

That focus reflects a practical tension in AI development. Models need vast amounts of data, but buyers also need confidence that the data was contributed with appropriate consent and licensed under usable terms. As AI systems become more commercial and more regulated, the ability to trace where training data came from may become a critical business requirement rather than a niche technical feature.

For DATA, the strategic shift is an attempt to follow the strongest pull from the market. The company began with a broad intellectual property vision, narrowed itself around data, and is now concentrating on the infrastructure needed to verify AI training inputs. The Sui migration reduces the burden of running a standalone blockchain while giving DATA access to storage and permissioning tools that could support deeper provenance features over time.

Whether the strategy succeeds will depend on adoption by data marketplaces, contributors and buyers. Registered contributions alone do not prove revenue traction, and DATA has not disclosed how many records have produced licensing income. Still, the combination of a $30 million Sui Foundation investment, ongoing involvement from a16z crypto and daily contribution activity through Kled gives the company a clearer market focus than its earlier attempt to bring broad intellectual property categories onchain.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is DATA doing with its blockchain?

DATA is retiring its own blockchain and moving to Sui. Its current blockchain will remain operational until the migration is complete.

How much did Sui Foundation invest in DATA?

Sui Foundation invested $30 million in DATA, becoming DATA Network’s largest institutional holder through the deal.

What was DATA formerly called?

DATA was formerly known as Story Protocol before rebranding to DATA Foundation in June.

Why did DATA change its strategy?

DATA found that broad intellectual property licensing markets were difficult to disrupt because many sectors already had established systems and large rights holders were not strongly interested in permissionless licensing.

What is Trace?

Trace is DATA’s registry for AI training data. It records where data comes from, who contributed it, the consent terms attached to it and later licensing or payment events.

How much activity is Kled adding to Trace?

Kled is adding between 3 million and 4 million contributions a day to Trace, including older records being brought onto the system.

What happens to existing DATA tokens?

Existing $DATA tokens are expected to move to Sui on a one-to-one basis, with holders retaining their rights and vesting schedules unchanged.

Why is DATA moving to Sui instead of running its own chain?

Moving to Sui allows DATA to avoid the costs and operational demands of maintaining its own blockchain while focusing on Trace and AI training data provenance.

Will DATA operate its own data marketplace?

DATA has not ruled out operating its own marketplace in the future, but for now it is focused on providing infrastructure for auditability and provenance of AI training data.