Vana

While most blockchains are built for transactions, smart contracts, or gaming, Vana is purpose-built for something fundamentally different: data ownership. The protocol creates the tools needed to turn data into an asset that can be governed, licensed, and monetized—by the people who produce it.

In a world where centralized AI models scrape content without consent, Vana proposes a reversal: you own the data, and you choose where it goes, how it's used, and what it earns.

This mission demands more than tokenomics—it requires an entire rethinking of how data flows, who controls it, and how its usage is verified.

Technical Foundation

Vana operates as its own Layer 1 blockchain, with several unique technical components:

• EVM-Compatible: Developers can deploy Solidity contracts, while Vana adds additional modules tailored for data handling.

• DataDAOs: Community-managed DAOs that pool data under shared governance and licensing rules. Each DAO can issue tokens that represent the collective value of its dataset.

• VRC-20 Token Standard: Custom token format used to represent data-backed value, such as ownership of social graphs, health data, or text corpora.

• TEE-Based Validation: Vana uses trusted execution environments to securely validate, anonymize, and score data before it’s accepted into a DAO or dataset—ensuring user privacy without compromising data quality.

• Staking and Access Control: Access to high-value data (for AI training or analysis) is permissioned via token-based licensing, enforced on-chain.

The end result is a data-native blockchain where value is generated not by speculation or gas wars—but by high-integrity, privacy-preserving contributions from real people.

Use Cases and Application Examples

Vana’s ecosystem is focused on real data and real economic flows:

• Personal Data Monetization: Individuals contribute browsing, social, or behavioral data to a DAO in exchange for a share of future licensing revenue.

• AI Dataset Creation: Teams can launch and govern large-scale datasets with traceable origins, rights, and royalty logic baked in.

• Social Graph DAOs: Communities or apps can tokenize and monetize engagement data without giving up control to platforms.

• DataFi Instruments: The VRC-20 token format allows DeFi-style mechanisms to emerge around data assets—such as staking, bonding curves, and collateralization.

These use cases combine technical primitives with legal awareness—making Vana one of the few chains designed with compliance, attribution, and ethical data sourcing in mind.

Ecosystem and Interoperability

Although Vana operates its own sovereign Layer 1, it is designed to plug into other ecosystems, especially those with high AI and DeFi activity. Key interoperability points include:

• Ethereum and EVM Chains: VANA tokens and VRC-20s can be bridged into Ethereum, Polygon, and other L2s.

• Data Marketplaces: Vana enables integration with off-chain AI systems and on-chain DeFi dashboards to make data tradable and usable.

• Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs): Core to Vana’s ability to process sensitive user data without exposing it on-chain, ensuring regulatory alignment.

• Indexing and Subgraph Compatibility: The chain supports querying layers and data tools for building analytics, dashboards, and dynamic pricing around datasets.