Sui backs DATA Network’s move off its own blockchain

Sui Foundation will invest $30 million in DATA Network as the AI data protocol moves onto Sui and retires its independent blockchain after the transition, according to Sui Foundation’s announcement on Oct. 12. The move brings DATA’s Trace registry and data storage into the Sui ecosystem, while changing the network that processes its activity.

What will move from DATA’s chain to Sui?

DATA Network will be upgraded to run as a protocol natively on Sui. Its Trace registry, which records the origins and usage rights of AI training data and settles payments to contributors, will join the Sui stack. Sui’s announcement says Trace has registered more than 250 million contributions and processes over 3 million receipts a day on average.

The transition changes where the protocol operates: DATA’s own chain will be retired once the upgrade is complete. The network will keep running until then. The foundations have not yet published a transition date; they say a detailed timeline and plan for token holders will come before the upgrade.

Where will Trace’s files be stored?

Walrus, a storage platform in the Sui ecosystem, will become the default storage layer for applications operated by DATA Foundation. Trace records information about a contribution and its rights; Walrus is intended to hold an encrypted copy of the original file. In the announcement, Sui says that pairing records with stored files will let users check a record against the data itself and verify later processing against the original.

That divides the work between the registry and storage: Trace keeps track of provenance and rights, while Walrus holds the file. Sui says dataset rights can be managed as programmable onchain objects. The announcement describes the integration’s intended design; it does not give a completion date for the migration.

What happens to DATA tokens during the transition?

The $DATA token will remain the protocol’s token on Sui and move over at a one-to-one ratio, according to the announcement. Locked and vesting positions will carry over unchanged, and holders’ economic and governance rights will be at least equivalent to their current terms. The investment makes Sui Foundation the network’s largest institutional holder, alongside PIP Labs and DATA Foundation.

For holders, the immediate change is the announced destination and token treatment, not a completed migration. DATA’s existing chain stays live until the upgrade is finished. The next concrete step to watch is the detailed timeline and holder transition plan, which the foundations say they will publish before the upgrade.

References

• Sui Foundation’s announcement — sui.io