Story has rebranded as the DATA Foundation, redirecting its focus from onchain intellectual property systems to artificial intelligence training data, as demand grows for rights-cleared datasets suitable for machine learning.
Shift toward AI data infrastructure
The DATA Foundation said the pivot responds to rising scrutiny over data ownership and consent in AI development, alongside tightening supply of high-quality, legally usable datasets. Co-founder Muttoni, now chief executive, said the move positions the organization to address these challenges with infrastructure designed for transparency and compliance.
Central to the transition is Trace, an onchain registry that records the origin, licensing status, and consent of datasets used in AI training. The system is integrated with Kled, an opt-in data marketplace, bringing more than 1.5 billion user-contributed records onto the DATA network.
Kled founder Patel has joined the foundation as chief data officer, linking the marketplace’s contributor base with the network’s verification and audit tools.
From intellectual property to data markets
The project was originally launched as Story, where it focused on registering and tokenizing digital intellectual property. Initiatives such as Magma onboarded more than 3 million artists, while Aria enabled music rights tokenization.
As AI companies increased demand for authenticated datasets, the organization shifted its strategy. The foundation said much of the open internet has already been heavily scraped, making new, high-quality data harder to obtain and increasing legal risks tied to copyright and consent.
Building verifiable and compensated datasets
Trace issues immutable onchain records for each data contribution, allowing traders and developers to verify provenance and licensing before using datasets in model training. The system also tracks contributor consent and compensation through blockchain-based receipts.
Through Kled, datasets spanning voice, image, and video formats are now auditable onchain. Contributors can receive payment in either stablecoins or traditional currency, delivered to crypto wallets or bank accounts.
Early traction across network projects
Projects operating on the DATA network are already generating data at scale. Numo, focused on voice datasets, has collected nearly 800,000 samples across languages including Bengali, Tamil, Hindi, and Telugu within its first month.
Another system, Poseidon, evaluates dataset quality and authenticity before release. The foundation said Poseidon now runs fully on the DATA Protocol and acts as a core validation layer for the network, addressing reliability concerns in AI model training.
Token transition and market implications
The Story native token will transition to the DATA token on a one-to-one basis, with further migration details expected. Tokens tied to Kled will remain separate and independent from the foundation’s governance.
The shift positions the DATA Foundation to target a key bottleneck in AI development: access to high-quality, legally compliant data. As public web data becomes increasingly exhausted and contested, demand is moving toward transparent, consent-driven data sources.
Adoption of the Trace registry and growth in dataset contributions are likely to serve as key indicators of network traction, as the foundation builds a marketplace centered on verified AI training data.
Explore compliant AI data and crypto synergies—learn how AI complements blockchain in building transparent, verifiable datasets for next‑generation models.
Disclaimer: The content on this page is provided for general informational purposes only and does not represent the views or financial advice of Toobit. We make no guarantees regarding the accuracy or completeness of this information and shall not be held liable for any errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from its use. Investing in digital assets involves risk; users should independently evaluate their financial situation and the risks involved. For further details, please consult our Terms of Service and Risk Disclosure.
