Key Takeaways

Vana is a Layer 1 blockchain project that puts users in control of their personal data, allowing them to decide how it is used while keeping it private and secure.

Users can earn token rewards when sharing their data to help train AI models. Vana uses Data Liquidity Pools (DLPs) that reward participants in proportion to their contribution.

Vana started as an MIT research project in 2018. The platform is fully open source and functions as a decentralized, permissionless network.

VANA tokens were launched through Binance Launchpool in December 2024, with 4.8 million tokens available as farming rewards.

Introduction

Vana is a blockchain project that lets users take back control of their digital data while still allowing it to be used to train artificial intelligence (AI) models. In a nutshell, Vana focuses on keeping user data private, secure, and fairly rewarded.

What Is Vana?

Vana is a decentralized Layer 1 platform designed to change the way data is owned and used. Today, large technology companies gather and monetize personal data without compensating the people who generate it. Vana is working to change this by allowing individuals to own and control their data while sharing it in a way that is both private and rewarding.

Instead of one company controlling everything, Vana aims to build a user-centered AI ecosystem. With Vana, your data can help improve AI models, but you remain in control, keep your privacy, and earn rewards for sharing it.

Vana Key Features

Vana addresses some of the biggest challenges in today's data economy:

Data ownership: users can regain control over their personal information.

Privacy: secure technologies such as Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) ensure data remains private and protected even during AI training.

Fair compensation: users are rewarded with tokens for the value their data generates.

Democratic AI: AI models trained with community data are collectively owned, not controlled by a single company.

Open infrastructure: the Vana platform is open source and functions as a decentralized, permissionless network.

How Does Vana Work?

Vana (VANA) uses smart contracts and advanced privacy technology to let people share their data safely while staying in control.

1. You own your data

With Vana, you are in control of your data. Instead of storing it on servers owned by companies, you can store it in your own personal servers or secure environments. You decide how and when your data is shared.

2. Data Liquidity Pools (DLPs)

Vana introduces Data Liquidity Pools (DLPs). These pools let people group their data together so it can be used to train AI models. The more diverse the data, the more useful the AI. DLPs ensure that you retain ownership of your data, so no one can use it without your permission. Each DLP operates as a community-governed DataDAO, enabling contributors to collectively decide how their pooled data is used and to share in any revenue it generates.

3. Proof of Contribution (PoC)

Vana uses a Proof of Contribution (PoC) mechanism to ensure only high-quality data enters DLPs. When you submit data, validators verify its authenticity and usefulness before it is added to the pool. Contributors whose data passes validation are rewarded with VANA tokens or DLP-specific tokens, creating a quality-first incentive structure. This is analogous to how validators in decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) govern resource allocation, but applied specifically to data quality.

4. Privacy and security

Vana uses advanced privacy tools, including Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and cryptographic proofs, to keep your data safe. These tools ensure that even when your data is used for AI training, no one can view or misuse it without your consent.

5. Tokenized data rights

When you share your data through Vana, you are rewarded with tokens. These tokens track your contributions and ensure you are fairly compensated when your data is used to improve AI models, creating an ongoing incentive to participate.

6. Collective ownership of AI models

AI models trained using community data are collectively owned. Instead of a company profiting alone, everyone who contributed their data can benefit from the value the model creates. This approach promotes a more democratic AI economy.

7. Open infrastructure

The platform is fully open source and functions as a decentralized, permissionless network, ensuring accessibility for everyone. The Open Data Foundation plays a key role in promoting the adoption of the Vana protocol, while partner organizations contribute to research and technical development.

VANA Tokenomics

The VANA token is the native currency of the Vana network. Its tokenomics are designed to align the incentives of data contributors, validators, and developers:

Transaction fees: VANA is used to pay for data submissions, validation, and interactions within the network.

Validator staking: validators stake VANA to guarantee the quality of DLPs and earn rewards tied to uptime, security, and liquidity.

DLP governance: VANA holders can participate in governance decisions for individual Data Liquidity Pools.

Cross-DLP interoperability: VANA facilitates data and value exchange across different DLPs within the ecosystem.

A total of 120 million VANA tokens represent the maximum supply, of which 4,800,000 (4%) were made available as Binance Launchpool farming rewards in December 2024.

Vana in 2025

Since its Binance Launchpool launch in December 2024, Vana has continued to develop its ecosystem with several notable milestones:

Capella Network Upgrade (July 14, 2025): a hard fork that boosted network throughput, improved security, and introduced new developer tools for building Data Apps and DLPs. Supported by Binance as an infrastructure upgrade.

Vana Playground (September 10, 2025): an AI developer platform that launched with approximately 12.7 million data points contributed by over 1 million users, providing a real-world dataset for AI model training and demonstrating early adoption of the DLP model.

Data Validator Staking transition: Vana shifted from an emissions-based DLP staking model to Data Validator Staking, where rewards are tied to uptime, data quality, and liquidity rather than token emissions alone. This aims to promote more sustainable network participation.

Vana's Launch on Binance Launchpool

On December 13, 2024, Binance announced Vana as the 62nd project on the Binance Launchpool platform. This launch represented a major milestone for Vana, offering opportunities for Binance users to engage with the project through farming rewards.

A total of 4,800,000 VANA tokens (4% of the maximum supply) were available as Launchpool farming rewards. Binance listed VANA for trading on December 16, 2024. The initial available trading pairs included VANA/USDT, VANA/BNB, VANA/FDUSD, and VANA/TRY.

FAQ

What is Vana (VANA)?

Vana (VANA) is a Layer 1 blockchain designed for user-owned data and AI training. It allows individuals to contribute personal data to Data Liquidity Pools (DLPs), where the data is validated, tokenized, and used to train AI models. Contributors earn VANA tokens or DLP-specific tokens as compensation for their contributions.

What is a Data Liquidity Pool (DLP)?

A Data Liquidity Pool (DLP) is a community-governed repository on the Vana network where users can pool similar types of data, such as social media history, health records, or browsing data. AI developers and researchers can access these pools to train models. Contributors retain ownership of their data and earn token rewards based on the quality and usefulness of their contribution, as verified through Vana's Proof of Contribution mechanism.

What is the VANA token used for?

The VANA token is the native currency of the Vana network. It is used to pay transaction and validation fees, stake as a validator to earn network rewards, participate in DLP governance decisions, and facilitate interoperability between different Data Liquidity Pools. VANA was listed on Binance in December 2024.

How does Vana protect user privacy?

Vana uses Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and cryptographic proofs to ensure that data shared within the network cannot be viewed or misused without the contributor's consent. Even when data is used for AI model training, these privacy-preserving mechanisms prevent raw data from being exposed to third parties.

How is Vana different from traditional data companies?

Traditional technology companies collect and monetize user data without compensating the individuals who generate it. Vana inverts this model by giving users ownership of their data, allowing them to decide how it is used, and rewarding them with tokens when their data generates value. AI models trained on DLP data are collectively owned by contributors rather than by a single company.

Closing Thoughts

Vana is focused on giving users more control over their data while enabling that data to contribute to AI development in a privacy-preserving way. By combining Data Liquidity Pools, Proof of Contribution, and a community ownership model, Vana represents one approach to addressing the data sovereignty challenge in the AI era. As with all AI cryptocurrencies, how the ecosystem develops over time will depend on adoption by both data contributors and AI developers.

Further Reading

Your Guide to Binance Launchpad and Launchpool

Your Guide to Binance Spot Trading

Top Artificial Intelligence (AI) Cryptocurrencies

What Is Tokenomics and Why Does It Matter?

Disclaimer: This content is presented to you on an "as is" basis for general information and educational purposes only, without representation or warranty of any kind. It should not be construed as financial, legal or other professional advice, nor is it intended to recommend the purchase of any specific product or service. You should seek your own advice from appropriate professional advisors. Where the article is contributed by a third party contributor, please note that those views expressed belong to the third party contributor, and do not necessarily reflect those of Binance Academy. Please read our full disclaimer for further details. Digital asset prices can be volatile. The value of your investment may go down or up and you may not get back the amount invested. You are solely responsible for your investment decisions and Binance Academy is not liable for any losses you may incur. For more information, see our Terms of Use and Risk Warning.