DATA Network to migrate to Sui, retire own chain

DATA Network, formerly known as Story, is planning to retire its independent blockchain and move its AI training data protocol to Sui, backed by a $30 million investment from Sui Foundation.

The project’s Trace registry, which launched in June, will join the Sui ecosystem, while Walrus, a decentralized storage platform in the Sui ecosystem, will become the default storage layer for applications operated by DATA Foundation, its partners said on Monday.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, a DATA Foundation spokesperson said running a dedicated blockchain 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.

The decision followed Story Foundation’s rebrand to DATA Foundation in June, pivoting from intellectual property licensing to building a “full stack for AI training data.” It also launched Trace to track the origin and licensing rights of training data.

As Trace grew to more than 270 million registrations in about four months, running an independent blockchain for one use case no longer made sense, the representative said.

The DATA Network will continue to operate until the upgrade is complete, and a detailed timeline and holder transition plan will be published prior to the upgrade, it said.

Asked how much Sui Foundation’s investment influenced the move, the representative said the $30 million investment was a separate part of the partnership.

DATA Network’s existing chain will continue operating until the upgrade is complete. The partners said a detailed timeline and holder transition plan would be published before the migration.

Related: Story Protocol rebrands to DATA Foundation in AI pivot