Crypto Startup DATA Ditches Its Blockchain for Sui in $30M Deal

DATA (formerly Story Protocol) is shutting its own blockchain and moving to Sui after a $30M investment, focusing on tracking AI training data.

A crypto company called DATA — once known as Story Protocol and backed by famous investor firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) — is making a big change. It's shutting down its own blockchain (a digital record-keeping system that runs across many computers) and moving onto another one called Sui.

The reason? Sui's foundation is investing $30 million into DATA, and building your own blockchain is expensive and complicated.

From big dreams to a focused plan

When DATA started in 2022, it wanted to put all kinds of intellectual property — like music royalties, patents, and trademarks — onto a blockchain. But it found those industries already had their own systems and weren't interested in change.

CEO Andrea Muttoni admitted: *"We were trying to boil the ocean, and it was a very saturated and entrenched ocean."* In plain terms, the goal was too huge and the market too crowded.

The new focus: tracking AI data

DATA now concentrates on one product called Trace. It's like a receipt system that records:

Where AI training data came from
Who contributed it
What rights buyers have to use it

This matters because buyers often can't tell if the data they're paying for is original or properly licensed. DATA says a partner platform, Kled, is adding 3 to 4 million contributions per day.

The key numbers

DATA raised $140 million over the years
Built its own blockchain, now being shut down
Received a $30 million investment from the Sui Foundation
Sui Foundation becomes DATA's largest institutional holder
Existing $DATA tokens (the company's digital coins) will move to Sui one-to-one

Why it matters

Muttoni believes the AI training data market could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. By moving to Sui, DATA avoids the costs of running its own blockchain and gains tools for storing and encrypting data files.

The bottom line: DATA is betting that the future isn't about running its own tech, but about being a trusted record-keeper for the booming world of AI data.

This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/21/how-a16z-backed-data-is-rethinking-its-blockchain-strategy-after-usd30-million-sui-deal