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What Is DATA Network?

DATA Network (formerly Story, or Story Protocol) is a layer-1 blockchain focused on provenance, licensing, and payments for AI training data. The project began as an attempt to make intellectual property programmable on-chain, letting creators register IP assets with programmable licenses, derivative rules, and automatic royalty flows. In June 2026, the Story Foundation rebranded as The DATA Foundation, renamed the network DATA Network, and narrowed its mission to the fastest-growing part of its original vision: giving AI companies a verifiable, licensed supply chain for training data.

Story was founded by Jason Zhao and SY Lee, with backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain, and other investors, and launched its mainnet in February 2025 with IP as the native token. After the IP token lost most of its value from its early-2025 highs, the foundation announced the pivot on June 25, 2026. The IP token migrated to DATA at a 1:1 ratio in early July 2026, with no action required from holders; major exchanges including Binance, Kraken, Bybit, and OKX supported the swap, pausing trading for roughly a week while tickers migrated. Andrea Muttoni was named CEO of The DATA Foundation.

Technically, the chain is built on the Cosmos SDK with CometBFT consensus and a fully EVM-compatible execution layer, giving it fast block times and quick finality while remaining compatible with standard Ethereum tooling. Its core primitive is an on-chain registry that links registered assets, their licenses, and derivative works, with smart contracts enforcing license terms and routing payments automatically. Under the DATA Network branding, this registry underpins Trace, the project's provenance and licensing system for AI training data: datasets registered on-chain carry verifiable origin and licensing terms that model trainers can rely on.

The flagship consumer-facing application is Kled, a marketplace where data contributors can license their data to AI companies and receive payment on-chain. The thesis is that as AI labs face growing legal and commercial pressure to train on licensed data, a neutral, verifiable registry of data provenance and licensing becomes valuable infrastructure. The network's earlier creator-IP tooling (programmable licenses, derivative registration, royalty modules) remains part of the protocol but is no longer the headline use case.

Consensus uses a proof-of-stake design with validators staking the native token. DATA is used to pay gas, stake with validators or delegate, participate in governance, and back ecosystem incentives. Standard Ethereum tooling (Solidity, MetaMask, Hardhat, Foundry) works on DATA Network with minimal modification.

Getting Started With DATA Network

You can interact with DATA Network as a data contributor, a developer, or a DATA token holder:

  1. Step 1: Install an EVM wallet (MetaMask, OKX Wallet, or similar) and configure it for the DATA Network mainnet.
  2. Step 2: Acquire DATA on a supported exchange and withdraw to your DATA Network address, or bridge assets in via supported bridges such as Stargate, deBridge, or Orbiter.
  3. Step 3: Explore the ecosystem: register data with verifiable provenance, or browse the Kled marketplace.
  4. Step 4: To build on DATA Network, use the developer documentation to integrate registration, licensing, and payment flows into your application.

How to Get a DATA Network Wallet?

DATA Network is EVM-compatible, so most popular Ethereum wallets work with minimal configuration:

MetaMask

MetaMask can be configured with the DATA Network RPC and chain ID to manage DATA and interact with network dApps. The official documentation recommends MetaMask for desktop users.

OKX Wallet

OKX Wallet is a multi-chain wallet recommended in the project's documentation, supporting DATA Network alongside other EVM chains on both desktop and mobile.

Hardware Wallets

Ledger and Trezor support DATA Network through their Ethereum apps, which can be paired with MetaMask for cold-storage signing.

DATA Network Resources

How to Buy DATA?

DATA is listed on major exchanges following the July 2026 ticker migration from IP:

Centralized Exchanges

DATA trades on Binance (regional availability varies), Kraken, Bybit, and OKX, which all supported the IP-to-DATA migration. Common pairs include DATA/USDT and DATA/USDC. Holders of the former IP token received DATA automatically at a 1:1 ratio.

Decentralized Exchanges

On DATA Network itself, DATA trades on network-native DEXs, and assets can be bridged in from other chains via Stargate, deBridge, and Orbiter.

After buying, DATA can be staked or delegated to validators to earn rewards, used to pay fees for registration and licensing transactions, or held in cold storage.

Latest DATA Network News

The defining recent event is the June 2026 rebrand. On June 25, 2026, the Story Foundation announced it was becoming The DATA Foundation and refocusing the network on AI training data, after the IP token had fallen roughly 98% from its early highs. The $IP token migrated to $DATA 1:1 in early July 2026, with Binance, Kraken, Bybit, and OKX pausing trading for about a week to complete the swap; Coinbase suspended its IP perpetual futures product on July 6, 2026 as part of the transition. Andrea Muttoni took over as CEO of the foundation.

Alongside the rebrand, the project introduced Trace, its on-chain provenance and licensing registry for AI training data, and positioned the Kled data marketplace as the network's flagship application. The bet is that licensed, verifiable training data becomes a legal and commercial requirement for AI companies, and that an open registry is the neutral infrastructure to provide it.