The Sui Foundation has announced a $30 million investment in DATA Network, formerly known as Story Protocol, making it the network’s largest institutional holder with a stake representing 40% of the project's current market capitalization. As part of the deal, DATA Network will wind down its standalone Layer 1 blockchain and rebuild as a protocol natively integrated into Sui. Existing tokens will migrate on a 1:1 basis with all vesting schedules and governance rights preserved, while Walrus will serve as the default storage layer for DATA applications. DATA Network rebranded from Story Protocol in June 2026 after raising $140 million at a $2.25 billion valuation, pivoting from programmable IP to AI training data infrastructure. The project’s Trace provenance tool now processes over 3 million receipts daily and has registered more than 250 million data contributions. PIP Labs CEO SY Lee will join the Sui Foundation as a strategic advisor, though no specific timeline has been set for the migration process. The integration aims to reduce operational costs associated with maintaining an independent chain while leveraging Sui’s existing AI-focused technology stack. Following the announcement, DATA rose approximately 8% to trade near $0.21, recovering significantly from its all-time low of $0.275 reached in June. The move consolidates resources around verifiable data provenance, addressing growing demand for licensed training data amid new regulatory frameworks like the EU AI Act.