The Sui Foundation announced a US$ 30 million investment in DATA Network, an infrastructure protocol for artificial intelligence training data. The partnership, formalized this Monday (12), provides for the transfer of operations to the Sui blockchain and the shutdown of the independent network currently used by the project.
With the investment, Sui Foundation will hold the largest institutional stake in DATA Network, which also has PIP Labs and DATA Foundation among its investors. The agreement includes the adoption of Walrus as the standard storage layer for applications operated by DATA Foundation.
The change involves Trace, a registry launched in June 2026 to document the origin of data used in training AI models, the rights associated with these materials and the payments to its suppliers.
According to figures released by DATA Foundation, Trace has already recorded more than 250 million contributions and processes, on average, more than 3 million receipts daily. The metrics are presented by the organization itself and were not accompanied by an independent audit in the disclosed information.
The integration also provides for Walrus to store encrypted copies of registered files, allowing their integrity to be verified and the original materials to be compared with their respective provenance records.
DATA token will be migrated at a 1-to-1 ratio, still without a timeline
The restructuring establishes that the DATA token will be transferred to the Sui blockchain at a 1-to-1 ratio, preserving the amount of tokens held by current holders.
The statement also provides for the maintenance of economic and governance rights at least equivalent to the current ones. Locked positions and tokens subject to scheduled release periods must retain their conditions during the migration.
DATA Network will continue operating on its current infrastructure until the completion of the upgrade. Only after this process will its independent blockchain be deactivated.
There is still no defined date for the migration. The organizations stated that they will publish a detailed schedule and a transition plan for token holders before the upgrade.
The partnership also marks an operational change for the protocol, which will begin using Sui to record and manage data and licenses, while Walrus will be responsible for the storage infrastructure.
