Question 1

What is The DATA Foundation (DATA)?

Accepted Answer

The DATA Foundation is the organisation that stewards DATA Network, a base-layer blockchain previously known as Story Network. On 25 June 2026, Story announced that Story Foundation would become The DATA Foundation, Story Network would become DATA Network and the native IP token would be renamed DATA. Native IP balances convert to DATA automatically at a one-to-one ratio, with no manual token swap required. Existing balances, staking positions and network integrations remain in place.

The rebrand reflects a shift towards data used in artificial intelligence. DATA Network provides infrastructure for sourcing, documenting, licensing and processing human-contributed data. Apps and data providers can register records on the network with information about where the data came from, the consent provided by contributors, applicable licence terms, payments and later changes. The underlying files and contributor identities can remain private while evidence about the data is recorded on-chain.

The network includes two main services:

* **Trace**: A public audit and search system for records registered on DATA Network. Trace can show a record’s content hash, consent record, licence version, payment status and activity history without publishing the underlying confidential data.
* **Poseidon**: A data-processing system that cleans and structures submitted data, checks its source and licence status, assesses quality and packages records into datasets for AI developers.

The intellectual property technology developed under the Story name remains part of DATA Network. Users can register works as IP Assets, attach licence conditions, issue licence tokens and record relationships between original and derivative works. The Programmable IP License maps legal licence terms to smart contracts, covering matters such as commercial use, derivative works and revenue sharing. This system can be applied to creative works as well as rights connected to datasets.

DATA Network supports Ethereum-compatible smart contracts. Its execution layer is based on Geth, while its consensus layer uses the Cosmos SDK and CometBFT. Validators and delegators stake DATA, with the active validator set selected according to the amount staked.

Question 2

What is The DATA Foundation (DATA) used for?

Accepted Answer

DATA is the native token of DATA Network and replaces the IP ticker. It has three main functions:

* **Transaction fees**: DATA is used as gas for transactions on the network. These include token transfers, smart contract interactions, data registrations and actions involving IP Assets or licences.
* **Staking and network security**: Validators stake DATA to participate in consensus. Tokenholders can also delegate DATA to validators. Validators may receive block rewards and can lose part of their stake for actions such as double-signing blocks or extended downtime.
* **Governance**: DATA tokenholders can take part in governance decisions. The DATA Foundation supports the DATA Foundation DAO, carries out approved tokenholder decisions and manages grants, treasury functions and network development under the governance framework.
* 
DATA should not be treated as the required payment asset for every licence, royalty or dataset transaction. It pays the network fee for the associated on-chain action, but licence payments can use approved ERC-20 tokens. The DATA Protocol’s data-payment infrastructure also supports contributor payments denominated in stablecoins.

The ticker change does not alter the number of tokens held by existing IP holders. Native IP converts automatically to DATA at a one-to-one ratio and existing staking positions retain their duration and status. DATA is the network’s native asset, so it does not have an ERC-20 contract address.

Question 3

Who created The DATA Foundation (DATA)?

Accepted Answer

DATA Network is the continuation of Story Network, whose core development team is **PIP Labs**, also known as Pen Technology Inc. Story Protocol was publicly introduced in August 2023 in a paper by Jason Zhao, Jason Levy and Seung Yoon “SY” Lee. PIP Labs lists SY Lee as its co-founder and CEO, while Story’s official materials have identified Jason Zhao as a co-founder.

Following the rebrand, The **DATA Foundation** is responsible for stewarding DATA Network and Trace, supporting governance and maintaining the network’s open infrastructure. **Andrea Muttoni** became CEO of the Foundation as part of the change. **Avi Patel**, founder and CEO of the data marketplace Kled, joined the Foundation as Chief Data Officer while continuing to lead Kled. PIP Labs remains the core development team contributing to the network’s software.

#	Instrument	Exchange	Benchmark Score	Price	24h Change	24h Volume	24h Trades	24h Open	24h High
1	DATA-USDT DATAUSDT	bybit	A	0.2078USDT	-1.42%	28,519,006.60DATA	41,453	0.2108USDT	0.2200USDT
2	DATA-USDT DATA-USDT	okex	A	0.2078USDT	-1.38%	8,039,317.18DATA	22,527	0.2107USDT	0.2161USDT
3	DATA-USDT DATAUSDT_SPBL	bitget	BB	0.2078USDT	-1.39%	2,177,618.50DATA	2,544	0.2108USDT	0.2165USDT
4	DATA-USDT DATA-USDT	kucoin	BB	0.2079USDT	-1.42%	1,482,002.21DATA	6,705	0.2109USDT	0.2166USDT
5	DATA-USDT DATA_USDT	gateio	A	0.2079USDT	-1.33%	1,070,567.90DATA	2,890	0.2107USDT	0.2166USDT
6	DATA-USDT DATAIP_USDT	whitebit	BB	0.2083USDT	-1.37%	918,943.42DATA	3,733	0.2112USDT	0.2196USDT
7	DATA-USD IPUSD	kraken	AA	0.2086USD	-1.14%	834,089.50DATA	1,431	0.2110USD	0.2168USD
8	DATA-USD IP-USD	coinbase	AA	0.2069USD	-1.76%	654,158.30DATA	1,079	0.2106USD	0.2115USD
9	DATA-EUR DATA-EUR	okex	A	0.1853EUR	-1.17%	54,429.82DATA	49	0.1875EUR	0.1920EUR
10	DATA-USDC DATA-USDC	okex	A	0.2078USDC	-3.53%	46,218.39DATA	36	0.2154USDC	0.2154USDC
11	DATA-USD DATAIP_USD	cryptodotcom	AA	0.1969USD	-0.28%	10,862.00DATA	58	0.1975USD	0.2154USD
12	DATA-USD DATA-USD	okex	A	0.2186USD	0.00%	0DATA	0	0.2186USD	0.2186USD
13	DATA-TRY DATA-TRY	okex	A	10.34TRY	-0.40%	780.88DATA	2	10.39TRY	10.39TRY
14	DATA-USDC IPUSDC	cexio	BB	0.2085USDC	-0.54%	132.81DATA	2	0.2097USDC	0.2102USDC
15	DATA-USD IPUSD	cexio	BB	0.2093USD	-1.45%	121.95DATA	1	0.2124USD	0.2124USD
16	DATA-USDT IPUSDT	cexio	BB	0.2076USDT	-1.76%	115.18DATA	1	0.2113USDT	0.2113USDT
17	DATA-EUR IPEUR	kraken	AA	0.1928EUR	5.93%	102.85DATA	2	0.1821EUR	0.1930EUR
18	DATA-USDT DATAUSDT	mexc	C	0.2079USDT	-1.38%	655,067.18DATA	3,676	0.2108USDT	0.2166USDT
19	DATA-USDC DATAUSDC	mexc	C	0.2077USDC	-1.38%	247,957.24DATA	2,949	0.2106USDC	0.2157USDC
20	DATA-BTC DATABTC	mexc	C	0.0₅2427BTC	-0.98%	109,434.00DATA	2,954	0.0₅2451BTC	0.0₅2509BTC
21	DATA-ETH DATAETH	mexc	C	0.0₄7695ETH	-0.85%	68,954.21DATA	2,943	0.0₄7761ETH	0.0₄7930ETH
22	DATA-KRW ip_krw	korbit	C	469.00KRW	0.00%	0DATA	0	469.00KRW	469.00KRW