With the rapid development of AI technology, data has become the “oil” of the new era. How to break through data barriers and allow users to truly benefit from their own data has become a core issue that the industry needs to solve urgently.
ok快讯 recently invited the Vana team to have an in-depth conversation. As a decentralized data liquidity network, Vana is committed to reconstructing the data value chain through the innovative DataDAO mechanism. It is worth noting that the project has received $25 million in investment support from top institutions including Coinbase Ventures, Paradigm, and Polychain. With the mainnet about to go online, the issuance of VANA tokens will also bring revolutionary changes to the entire ecosystem.
Guests of this episode :
Art Abal : Managing Director at Vana Foundation
Victoria : Head of APAC
ok快讯: Please briefly introduce yourself.
Victoria:
Hello everyone, my name is Victoria. I am currently responsible for the operations, market promotion, ecosystem development and BD in the Asia-Pacific region. My previous experience working in an exchange has given me a deeper understanding of the Chinese community and the ecosystem of the Asia-Pacific market.
Art:
Hello everyone, I am the co-founder of VANA. I entered the Web3 field because I saw the problems in the way data is used in Web2, and I firmly believe that blockchain technology can solve these problems. Especially in the AI era, we should have our own data sovereignty.
Part 1: Project Vision and Market Pain Points
ok快讯: What kind of data dilemma is the AI industry facing now? Why do we say we have encountered a “data wall”? What are the problems with the traditional data collection model?
Art:
Data is the foundation of AI, and the quality of data directly determines the performance of AI models. The current problem is that all generative AI models are using public data, which has been captured and used in large quantities. This has formed a “data wall”: if you want to develop better AI models, it is not enough to rely solely on existing public data, and you must obtain more high-quality data. This is why private data in “walled gardens” such as social media platforms has become so valuable.
I have personally experienced this process when I worked at a related company before. For example, when a social media company wants to buy a competitor’s message data, they cannot trade directly and must go through a third-party data broker. These brokers collect data from users without telling them how to use it, and then resell it to buyers at a high price, keeping most of the profits. This leads to three major problems:
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Users have no idea how their data is being used
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The data are often sold by users who are forced to do so, and the samples are not representative
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This ultimately results in biased, low-quality datasets that affect the quality of AI models.
ok快讯: How does Vana accelerate AI innovation while protecting the privacy of user data?
Art:
First, in the Web2 era, people often think that their data is safe and that the platform will use it responsibly. But in reality, due to centralized management, data is often abused, sold without consent, or leaked.
VANA offers significant improvements in the following ways:
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We enable users to self-host their data, ensuring everyone has full control over their own data instead of relying on centralized platforms
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Every data transaction on the VANA platform is traceable and licensed through smart contracts, so users always know who is accessing the data and for what purpose
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Users can use encrypted wallets to authorize data usage in a refined manner, ensuring that data is only used for approved purposes
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Through the DataDAO mechanism, users can securely pool data to unlock collective value while maintaining individual ownership and privacy
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We use proof-of-contribution technology to verify the value of data while keeping data encrypted to ensure privacy
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This system creates a trustless environment where users can aggregate data with confidence, allowing us to unlock private data for collective use and AI model training.
Simply put, by protecting user privacy on VANA, we actually accelerate AI innovation because it allows data to be used in ways that are not currently possible.
Part 2: Technological Innovation and DataDAO Ecosystem
ok快讯: How is Vana’s technical architecture designed?
Art:
I suggest you check out the official detailed technical documentation. Here, I will introduce VANA’s three-layer core architecture from a high level:
1. Data Liquidity Layer
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This is the level at which data enters the system and is decentralized and verified.
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Users can contribute data to DataDAO for centralized management while maintaining full self-custody and ownership of the data
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Data contributors and custodians will receive corresponding governance rights and rewards, replacing the traditional data intermediary role.
2. Data Application Layer
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Allow users to freely transfer data within and outside the ecosystem
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Through the private key, users can fully control the use and scenarios of data.
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Provide infrastructure for distributed training of basic models and AI application development
3. VANA Layer 1 Blockchain
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Serves as the registration center for all data transactions, ensuring data security and traceability
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Every data interaction (contribution, access or monetization) will be recorded on the chain in an unalterable way.
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Provide trustless decentralized infrastructure to support the expansion of the DataDAO ecosystem
These three layers of architecture together build a complete decentralized data system, similar to the self-custody principle in DeFi, but applied in the data field.
ok快讯: What is DataDAO? How does DataDAO work?
ART:
Data DAO is essentially a special community organization. Imagine a group of people who come together because of a specific data set or topic, and they all think that this data is important for advancing AI development.
When users contribute their data to Data DAO, they will receive a reward called a governance token. This token is very special because it represents the user’s rights in the DAO and allows users to participate in deciding how the data is used. This process is actually very interesting. It makes data that was originally not tradable become tradable in the form of tokens.
The operation of Data DAO is similar to other DAOs, which are all autonomously participated by members. But the biggest difference is that the core asset of Data DAO is the data set. In today’s AI-driven world, the value of high-quality data is very high.
Governance is not only about community activities, but more importantly, it is about deciding how to use this aggregated data. Some Data DAOs will even further use this data to train AI models or drive innovation.
ok快讯: Currently, there are more than 300 DataDAOs joining the ecosystem. Can you share some typical cases?
ART:
Let me correct the data first. Actually, I just checked the latest data, and we have received 599 DataDAO applications so far, which is much higher than the 300 mentioned before, and it is still growing.
Some specific successful cases include:
Medical data field
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Asterisk DataDAO: This is a very meaningful project that focuses on women’s health data. They found that women are twice as likely to experience adverse drug reactions as men, which is directly related to the lack of targeted medical data. Through this DAO, we hope to collect more women’s health data and improve this situation.
Web2 Platform Data Retrieval Project
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Resume DAO: Specialized in processing LinkedIn data
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Scroll DAO: Responsible for Instagram data
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Volara DAO: Managing the collection of Twitter data
Financial transaction data
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Finquarium and Datapig: These two projects mainly aggregate users’ trading activity data to help build better trading agents and models
If you want to know more details, please visit the official website to learn about active DataDAO information, including how to create your own DataDAO. These cases are a good example of how DataDAO can help the community solve key data problems, allow users to regain data sovereignty, and promote innovation in AI applications.
Part 3: Token Economy and Ecosystem Governance
ok快讯: What role does the VANA token play in the ecosystem?
Art:
As the native token of the ecosystem, VANA has four main uses:
1. Data Trading
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Used for all data-related transactions in the ecosystem
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Including data verification, transmission and AI function operation
2. DataDAO Staking
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Users can stake VANA tokens to support their favorite DataDAO
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Staking helps maintain data security
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Get rewards based on the quality and quantity of DataDAO data
3. Ecological governance
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Participate in voting decisions, such as determining the number of DataDAOs that receive rewards
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Participate in the formulation of data quality assessment standards
4. Payment for data access
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As a payment currency for purchasing and accessing data
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It is the native token for accessing data within the ecosystem
ok快讯: How many tokens does VANA plan to airdrop to users? Which users are eligible for the airdrop?
Art:
Due to regulatory restrictions, we are currently unable to comment specifically on the airdrop plan or token distribution amount. However, we can share:
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Early contributors to the project and active community members will be recognized
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The biggest contribution to the community includes participating in DataDAO, contributing data, etc.
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I suggest that the best position for everyone now is to actively participate in DataDAO activities
ok快讯: For ordinary users who want to participate in the VANA ecosystem, what are the ways to participate?
Art:
The first thing to emphasize is that anyone with data can participate in the VANA ecosystem. Since each of us generates and uses data in our daily lives, it can be said that everyone can participate.
Let me break down the three main ways to get involved:
1. Contribute data
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Visit datahub.vana.org to pre-register
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Browse existing Data DAO projects in Data Hub
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Select the dataset you are interested in, such as Twitter data.
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Participate in these projects by sharing your data
2. Token Staking
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After VANA tokens are launched, you can stake them to support your favorite projects.
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By staking, you can not only support the development of DAO, but also obtain corresponding staking rewards
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Choose projects you like to support
3. Developer participation
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You can create your own Data DAO or data application
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Visit docs.vana.org for detailed development guides
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There are already many developers in the Chinese community who have made great projects
In short, whether you are an ordinary user or a developer, you can find a way to participate that suits you. We recommend that you pay attention to subsequent announcements to learn more specific details.
Part 4: Business Model and Future Development
ok快讯: What are VANA’s main sources of income? How to achieve the sustainability of the business model?
Art:
The VANA team has more than 20 years of experience in the data field, which is one of our major advantages. The main sources of income are two aspects:
Data Trading
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Including data verification, sales and access
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For example, our TensorSource project helps DataDAO sell data to Web2 buyers.
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$10.5 million in data demand generated in just a few months
Data application development
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DataDAO can create community-owned AI models and agents from aggregated data
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These models can be tokenized and generate ongoing income
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while maintaining community ownership
The sustainability of the business model is based on:
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Building the world’s largest data lake
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Forming a virtuous cycle through transactions, applications and innovation
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As the ecosystem expands, more applications will choose to build on VANA
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All transactions are done using VANA tokens, ensuring continuous demand
ok快讯: What are VANA’s expectations for changes in the data market in the next 3-5 years?
Art:
We want to fundamentally change the data market to make it fairer for both data providers and innovators.
The current problem is:
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User data is obtained free of charge for AI training
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AI usage decisions are made by the highest bidder or large platforms
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This has led many people to be skeptical of AI because they feel it is being forced upon them rather than serving them.
VANA’s vision is to:
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Let users truly own their own data
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Enable individuals to participate in shaping the development of AI technology
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Building a new data-based economy
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Data becomes the key to empowering individuals rather than platforms
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Users have full control over their data, AI agents, and related technologies
We believe the direction of AI should be determined by the community, not by the highest bidder. This is not only a matter of fixing the market, but also ensuring that everyone has a voice in the future of AI.