What Story Protocol does

Story Protocol, now operating as The Data Foundation following a June 2026 rebrand, builds blockchain-based infrastructure for sourcing, proving the provenance of, and licensing human-generated data for AI training. The company operates the DATA Network (formerly Story Network), a Layer 1 blockchain forked from the Cosmos SDK, which connects consumer-facing data contribution apps (Kled, Numo, Oto, Miso) to AI lab buyers through the Trace public audit layer and the Poseidon processing layer. Its flagship product, Kled, is described as the world's largest opt-in human data marketplace with over 1.5 billion records and 5 million-plus daily uploads. Confidential Data Rails (CDR) and IP Vault provide programmable, conditional-decryption storage for sensitive data and high-value IP, enabling encrypted datasets to be transacted on-chain without exposing underlying content.

The platform monetizes through $DATA token transaction fees paid on data registration, licensing, and royalty settlement events; processing and audit fees on Poseidon and Trace; and licensing-rail economics on data flowing from contributor apps to AI buyers. Customer segments span frontier AI foundation model labs as the primary enterprise buyers, IP owners and creators tokenizing music, art, gaming, and brand IP, individual data contributors earning from personal data through consumer apps, and developers building data marketplaces on the protocol's rails. Strategic investors include a16z Crypto (lead across seed, Series B, and the Poseidon seed), Polychain Capital, Samsung Next, WME Group, and Hashed, with the company last valued at $2.25 billion after an $80 million Series B in August 2024 and roughly $140 million raised in total.

Name

Story Protocol

Legal name

The Data Foundation

Website

https://story.foundation

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Data Foundation (formerly Story Protocol) operates the DATA Network, a Layer 1 blockchain connecting consumer data apps (Kled, Numo, Oto, Miso) to AI labs via the Trace audit and Poseidon processing layers, providing provenance-verified, rights-cleared training data and IP licensing rails.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Blockchain Infrastructure

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374), Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)

akta.pro primary industry

Royalties, Rights & Revenue Management (on-chain royalties, splits, licensing, enforcement) (FSAPAFAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Regulatory Reporting, Tax & Audit Trails (reconciliation, provenance) (FSAPAJAI), Compliance, Risk & RegTech for Tokenized Assets (KYC/AML, sanctions, travel rule, reporting) (FSAPAIAH), Blockchain Analytics & Transaction Monitoring (FSADALAB), Compliance Identity & KYC/KYB for Wallets (on-chain identity, reusable KYC, travel rule tooling) (FSAPACAL)

Keywords

• Blockchain infrastructure
• IP tokenization platform
• AI training data
• Data provenance network
• Programmable licensing protocol

Headquarters

HQ city

Bellevue

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Token Transaction Fees / Network Fees: The $IP (now $DATA) token serves as the native network token. Transaction fees on the DATA Network are paid in $DATA, capturing value from IP registration, licensing, and royalty settlements onchain. Post-rebrand, fees are generated from data registration, licensing, and payment events across the network.
2. Data Marketplace & Licensing Infrastructure: DATA Protocol provides licensing rails for data marketplaces (Kled, Oto, Numo, Miso). Every time data is licensed, registered, or a payment is settled onchain, the protocol captures fees. Revenue flows from AI labs paying for verified, rights-cleared training data sourced through the network.
3. Contributor App Revenue Share: Consumer apps (Kled, Numo, Oto, Miso) pay contributors for data contributions. The network captures value through licensing rails, processing fees (Poseidon), and audit fees (Trace), effectively monetizing the data supply chain from contributor to AI lab buyer.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Story Protocol is a purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain for intellectual property registration, programmable licensing, and royalty automation. Following its June 2026 rebrand to The Data Foundation, the company now operates the DATA Protocol, an open network connecting opt-in data sourcing via consumer apps (Kled, Numo, Oto, Miso), provenance verification through Trace, decentralized quality processing via Poseidon, and programmable licensing rails powered by Confidential Data Rails (CDR) to enable AI labs to source verified, rights-cleared human training data at scale.

Product overview

The Data Foundation operates the DATA Network as a platform-plus-ecosystem architecture. The core protocol (DATA Network) connects data sourcing, provenance verification (Trace), and data processing (Poseidon) into a unified system. The ecosystem includes consumer-facing apps (Kled, Numo, Oto, Miso) that enable opt-in human data contribution, with all contributions registered on-chain via Confidential Data Rails (CDR) and IP Vault for secure storage and programmable access. DATA Gateway provides token management. This structure enables AI labs to source real human data at scale, prove provenance, and ensure quality—addressing the three critical questions AI companies ask about training data.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Trace: Public audit and search platform where every asset registered on DATA Network can be accessed. Labs can search across the entire registry, filter by dataset, app, data type, modality, and time.
• Poseidon
• Confidential Data Rails (CDR)
• IP Vault
• Kled
• Numo
• Oto
• Miso

Products and services

• DATA Network Open blockchain protocol where real human data is sourced, proven, and processed to train AI models, enabling transparent, consent-based data licensing with on-chain audit trails.
• Trace Public audit and search platform where AI labs can search, filter, and verify datasets registered on the DATA Network, with full audit trails including content hash, signed consent, license agreements, and payment status.
• Poseidon Decentralized data processing layer that cleans, normalizes, authenticates, and scores raw human contributions into model-ready datasets for AI training, screening out scraped, synthetic, or altered content.
• Kled World's largest opt-in human data marketplace with over 1.5 billion records uploaded by real people and 5M+ new uploads per day, ranked #1 on the App Store in multiple countries.
• Numo Consumer app built by Poseidon for contributing voice data to AI training, supporting Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu at launch with more languages planned.
• Oto Data platform specializing in collection, licensing, and benchmarking of full-duplex voice data, where users are matched for natural conversations and earn rewards.
• Miso Korea's #1 home-services app integrated into the DATA ecosystem for voice and video data contribution, extending the network into new languages and modalities.
• Confidential Data Rails (CDR) Cryptographic and architectural framework enabling encrypted data to remain protected until predefined conditions are met, transforming private data into programmable on-chain assets with conditional decryption.
• IP Vault Secure on-chain storage space attached to IP assets that stores encryption keys for confidential IP data, protected by the network and accessible only by IP owners and license holders.
• DATA Gateway All-in-one hub for discovering wallets and seamlessly buying, bridging, or swapping $DATA tokens.
• $IP Token (now $DATA) Native network token used for transaction fees, registration, licensing, and royalty settlements on the DATA Network, with total supply capped at 1 billion.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1.5 billion+ records uploaded by real people, 5M+ per day on Kled alone
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Grayscale InvestmentscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGrayscale launched the Grayscale Story Trust, a tokenized IP investment product giving institutional investors exposure to Story Protocol. Represents the first institutional investment vehicle for Story's IP ecosystem.
• OpenLedgercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStory Protocol and OpenLedger launched a joint standard to make IP AI-ready by default — enabling AI systems to train on licensed content while cryptographically proving usage and enforcing licensing terms at runtime. Automatically distributes royalties to rights holders when their work contributes to AI behavior or outputs.
• Poseidon (incubated startup)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPoseidon was incubated by PIP Labs (Story's core developer). It raised $15M seed from a16z Crypto in July 2025 and runs its entire data processing business on DATA Protocol. Poseidon cleans, normalizes, and verifies raw human data into model-ready datasets for AI labs. Key to DATA's AI data thesis.
• KledflagshipTechnology or IntegrationKled is the largest opt-in human data marketplace globally (1.1B+ records registered on DATA chain). Beginning June 2026, Kled runs on DATA Protocol with licensing rails, contributor receipts, and data audits fully verifiable on-chain. Kled's founder Avi Patel joined The Data Foundation as Chief Data Officer.
• Atlas StakingminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAtlas Staking runs validator infrastructure for Story Protocol and published promotional content around Story Skills — AI agent abilities on Skills.sh that help builders register IP assets, configure licenses, and set up royalty payments. Actively recruits STORY token holders to stake with them.
• Numo (Poseidon)coreTechnology or IntegrationNumo is a consumer app launched by Poseidon for voice data contributions in Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu, with other languages to be added. Every record lands on DATA with a verified receipt. Represents the primary consumer contributor entry point alongside Kled.
• Oto (Voice Data Platform)coreTechnology or IntegrationOto is a data platform specializing in collection, licensing, and benchmarking of full-duplex voice data. On Oto's consumer platform, users are randomly matched with one another and earn rewards by having natural conversations. Data is registered on DATA Network with verified receipts.
• Bitget WalletminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBitget Wallet integrated Story Protocol mainnet and enabled IP airdrop claims, providing wallet infrastructure and distribution for Story's token and ecosystem.
• Crypto.comminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCrypto.com App listed Story Protocol ($IP) token, providing exchange distribution and consumer access to the Story token.
• Aria (Music IP Platform)coreTechnology or IntegrationAria brought music rights onchain including a $100M Korean music IP tokenization pipeline and rights from Justin Bieber, BTS, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, and BLACKPINK. A flagship use case demonstrating enterprise IP tokenization on Story.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Streamr: Decentralized real-time data marketplace and pub/sub network. Compares to DATA Network's data sourcing and licensing marketplace mechanics, with a more developer/IoT-oriented focus.
• Ondo Finance: Tokenized real-world asset (RWA) platform bringing yield-bearing instruments onchain. Compares to Story's RWA tokenization positioning for K-Culture and consumer brand IPs via Seoul Exchange.
• Centrifuge: Decentralized protocol for tokenizing real-world assets and onchain credit. Compares to Story's RWA/IP tokenization infrastructure and enterprise focus on financial institutions.

Direct peers

• Ocean Protocol: Decentralized data marketplace protocol that enables data sharing and monetization while preserving privacy. Directly comparable to DATA Network's data marketplace and licensing rails, with similar token-incentivized data supply economics.
• Chainalysis: Blockchain analytics and transaction monitoring platform used by regulators, exchanges, and financial institutions. Directly comparable to Trace as a public/professional audit layer on top of blockchain activity.
• TRM Labs: Blockchain intelligence platform for compliance, fraud detection, and transaction monitoring. Closely parallel to Trace's compliance/audit positioning, serving institutional crypto and traditional finance buyers.
• Audius: Decentralized music streaming protocol with on-chain artist royalties. Direct comparator for Story's pre-pivot music IP tokenization and royalty automation thesis with BTS/Aria-style catalogs.
• Royal: Music NFT platform that lets fans buy royalty shares in songs. Direct peer for Story's music IP tokenization and programmable royalty distribution use case.

Broad incumbents

• Scale AI: Dominant AI data labeling and curation vendor serving frontier model companies. Broad incumbent in the AI training data market that Story is targeting via Poseidon, with established enterprise relationships.
• Appen: Public AI data annotation and dataset provider with global contributor base. Broad incumbent in AI training data — comparable to Kled/Poseidon's contributor-driven model, though at much larger scale and with mature enterprise sales.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/_StoryProtocol
• GitHubgithub.com/piplabs
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/story.IP

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors18 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments3 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Story Protocol