The Sui Foundation is making a significant $30 million investment in DATA Network, marking a strategic partnership that will see the AI data protocol migrate to the Sui blockchain. As part of this deal, DATA Network will integrate with Walrus, Sui's onchain data storage platform, and its independent chain will be retired. The existing DATA token will transition to Sui on a one-to-one basis, with a detailed timeline for the upgrade to be released later.
DATA Network, supported by the DATA Foundation, will become a protocol running natively on Sui. The foundation, along with PIP Labs, will retain stakes in the network, with the Sui Foundation becoming its largest institutional holder. Walrus will serve as the default storage layer for applications operated by the DATA Foundation, which shifted its focus to AI training data earlier this year.
The partnership aims to enhance the supply chain for AI training data. DATA Network's Trace, launched in June, tracks the origins and usage rights of AI training data while ensuring payments to contributors. Since its launch, the Trace registry has recorded over 250 million contributions and processes more than 3 million receipts daily.
Adeniyi Abiodun, co-founder and chief product officer at Mysten Labs, emphasized the importance of this migration. He stated that the AI industry is moving toward datasets with consent and provenance, and the transition of DATA Network to the Sui stack provides high-quality, rights-cleared data for leading AI labs.