# Sui commits $30 million to DATA Network ahead of migration Author: KriptoMeta Editorial Team Language: English Published: 2026-10-12T07:35:31+03:00 Updated: 2026-10-12T07:35:31+03:00 ![Blue glass prism bearing the Sui emblem between optical data disks](https://kriptometa.com/uploads/sui-den-data-network-e-milyon-dolarlik-yatirim-a3e250f8fadb_article.webp) ## Key takeaways - The investment is set to make Sui Foundation the network’s largest institutional token holder. - DATA tokens will migrate one-for-one, with locked and vesting positions carried over unchanged. - The existing network will operate until the upgrade is complete; a detailed timetable is still to come. DATA Network plans to retire its independent blockchain and run on Sui. Its Trace registry will use Walrus to store original files alongside records of data provenance and usage rights. Sui Foundation has announced a $30 million strategic investment in DATA Network, which records the origin and usage rights of AI training data. Under the foundations’ [October 12 announcement](https://www.sui.io/blog/data-network-joins-sui-walrus), DATA will retire its independent [blockchain](https://kriptometa.com/en/glossary/blockchain) and become a protocol running natively on Sui. Its Trace registry will join the same infrastructure. The investment is intended to make Sui Foundation the network’s largest institutional token holder, alongside the continuing holdings of PIP Labs and DATA Foundation. The announcement does not specify the number of tokens acquired, a unit price or whether the funding transfer has closed. SY Lee, CEO of PIP Labs and chairman of Poseidon, is also joining Sui Foundation as a strategic adviser. ## What the one-for-one transition means for holders DATA will remain the protocol’s token, with existing holdings carried over one-for-one. The announcement says holders will retain economic terms and [governance rights](https://kriptometa.com/en/glossary/governance-token) at least equivalent to those they have today. Locked and [vesting positions](https://kriptometa.com/en/glossary/vesting-token-unlocks) will transfer unchanged; the network move was not announced as an early token unlock. **The migration is not complete.** The existing DATA network will keep operating until the upgrade finishes. The foundation’s X post points to the coming months, while a firm date and holder instructions will be published before the upgrade. The one-for-one ratio concerns token quantities, not a guarantee of market value. ## Connecting a Trace record to the original file Trace records who contributed data, the permissions attached to it and payments to contributors. The registry launched in June and, according to the announcement, has recorded more than 250 million contributions, averaging over 3 million receipts a day. These are usage figures reported by the foundations, not results presented as an independent audit. Walrus is set to become the default storage layer for DATA Foundation applications. A current Trace record can establish that a file was registered and when. The integration aims to add an encrypted, immutable copy of the file itself. Later processing could then be checked against that original, rather than relying on information supplied by an application. A voice recording prepared for AI training, for example, raises separate questions about its source, permitted uses and subsequent processing. Trace keeps the permissions and activity record; Walrus would provide the reference file. Verifying that a file has not changed does not, by itself, establish that its contents are accurate or that every claimed usage right is valid. > “Offering more than just an audit trail.” DATA Foundation CEO Andrea Muttoni, describing the integration’s aim in the October 12 announcement. ## From Story to training data DATA Foundation [announced on June 25](https://www.datafdn.org/blog/were-becoming-the-data-foundation) that it was moving away from the Story name and focusing on AI training data. IP was renamed DATA in the same change. The foundation said rights holders in areas such as music and gaming had been more reluctant to embrace open licensing than it expected, while demand for training data had proved stronger. Applications writing to Trace include Kled, Numo and Oto. Kled collects files that users upload with permission, while Numo accepts contributions such as voice data. The Sui move is meant to combine the registration and storage infrastructure behind these applications. The order in which applications will move has not been announced. [DATA Foundation’s October 12 investment and migration announcement](https://x.com/datafdn/status/2109468220273123382)