DATA Network, the blockchain project formerly known as Story, will retire its own chain and rebuild itself on Sui, Sui Foundation and the DATA Foundation announced on 12 October 2026 [1][2].
CONFIRMED by a Sui Foundation blog post. Trace usage figures are company-reported and have not been checked by TSN.
What DATA Network and Trace do
Trace is what the DATA Foundation calls an onchain registry for AI training data. It launched in June 2026. According to the announcement, it records where each piece of contributed data came from and the rights attached to it, and pays the person who contributed it [1]. The idea is to give AI labs data they are cleared to use, with a record of its origin.
The Foundation says Trace “has registered more than 250 million contributions since launch and now processes over 3M receipts per day on average” [1].
Cointelegraph reports that the project began as Story Protocol, a blockchain for intellectual property licensing, and rebranded to the DATA Foundation in June [2].
What is changing
“DATA Network will be upgraded to run as a protocol natively on Sui, and its independent chain will be retired,” the blog post says [1]. In other words, DATA stops running its own blockchain and becomes software running on Sui.
On the token, the post says: “$DATA continues as the token of the DATA protocol on Sui, carried over one-to-one, with holder economics and governance rights at least equivalent to today. Locked and vesting positions carry over unchanged.” [1]
Walrus will become the default storage layer for applications run by the DATA Foundation [1]. Walrus is a storage network linked to Sui that holds large files, with proofs of their integrity recorded on Sui. The partners say it will let Trace keep an encrypted copy of each original file that only licensed buyers can read [1].
The investment
“Sui Foundation is investing $30 million in the DATA Network, establishing the largest institutional stake in the network,” the post says, describing it as a long-term strategic investment [1]. PIP Labs and the DATA Foundation keep their holdings. SY Lee, chief executive of PIP Labs, joins Sui Foundation as a strategic adviser [1].
No date yet
No migration date has been given. “The existing 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,” the post says [1].
Sources
- “DATA Network joins Sui and Walrus to scale the supply chain for AI training data”, Sui Foundation blog, 12 October 2026. https://www.sui.io/blog/data-network-joins-sui-walrus
- Felix Ng, “DATA Network to migrate to Sui, retire its own chain”, Cointelegraph, 12 October 2026. https://cointelegraph.com/news/data-network-to-migrate-to-sui-retire-its-own-chain
