The Sui Foundation is deepening its push into AI data infrastructure with a $30 million investment in DATA Network, a partnership announced Monday, October 12. Under the agreement, the AI training data protocol will migrate to Sui, a layer-1 blockchain, and use Walrus, the network's decentralized storage protocol, for storing original data files. According to DATA Foundation, the Sui Foundation will become the network's largest institutional holder, while PIP Labs and DATA Foundation will retain their existing stakes. The arrangement connects DATA's provenance-tracking registry with Sui's execution layer and Walrus's storage, putting origin records, file storage, and settlement on a single network.

The deal follows DATA Foundation's June shift from intellectual property licensing to AI training data, after the organization previously operated as Story Foundation.

One-to-One Token Migration Terms

DATA Network will retire its independent blockchain once the move is complete. Holders will receive DATA tokens on Sui at a one-to-one rate, and the plan preserves voting rights, locked holdings, and existing vesting schedules. For holders, that structure carries balances over at the same quantity while leaving governance and vesting terms as they stand.

The migration follows Sui's October 7 off-chain speed test, which recorded approximately 40.6 million transactions per second. The demonstration used payment channels that settle their activity on Sui, and the result set a new throughput record for the network. The off-chain setup means the figure reflects channel throughput settled on S rather than base-layer execution.

Walrus to Store Original Training Files

Walrus will become the default storage platform for applications operated by DATA Foundation. The foundation's Trace registry, launched in June, tracks data origins and usage permissions and also handles payments to contributors. The partnership is intended to give AI laboratories access to training material with documented consent and usage rights.

The foundation reported more than 250 million registered contributions and average daily processing above 3 million receipts. Walrus will allow Trace to store encrypted originals, letting users check later file processing against those stored copies.

Data Applications and Payment Partners

Applications using Trace include Kled, Numo, and Oto. According to the announcement, Kled is onboarding more than 1.5 billion records, while Numo and Oto license training data to AI laboratories and robotics companies.

The agreement also follows plans for Samsung Wallet's USDC integration on Sui, announced October 8. That service will reach eligible Galaxy users in the United States, covering approximately 82 million devices, adding to a series of Sui ecosystem updates this month.

Funding Terms and Rollout Plans

Separately, Sui announced Hashi's planned Bitcoin finance launch on October 8, with more than $500 million in capital commitments. The platform expects to begin a phased rollout this month.

The Sui Foundation investment announcement provides no purchase price or spending breakdown for the $30 million commitment. PIP Labs chief executive SY Lee will join the foundation as a strategic adviser. DATA Foundation will publish a detailed transition timeline before the upgrade, and its existing network will keep operating until the migration is complete. The forthcoming timeline, Hashi's phased rollout, and the planned Samsung Wallet integration give observers concrete checkpoints as these October announcements move toward operation.

Details of the partnership were published in an official announcement on the Sui blog: DATA Network Joins Sui.