Article source: On-chain expert

Vana is listed on Binance, and the price is very attractive, bringing joy to some and sorrow to others.

Multiple accounts have been exhausting; short cycles and high returns; NFT speculation has also been exhausting, with some making a fortune in ETH in a very short time. However, due to snapshot timing issues, those who bought high-priced NFTs in the secondary market are feeling a bit uncomfortable.

In contrast, BNB holders are truly enjoying stable happiness. This period's returns seem to be higher than previous ones, and recently there have been both Launchpool and HODLer airdrops, with BNB continuously digging like a golden shovel, keeping the big investors satisfied.

To be honest, I was aware of the VANA project before, but I didn't expect the token to be issued so quickly; now I can only watch you all get rich. Next, let's not discuss right or wrong, but simply review what VANA is doing and why it can be listed on Binance, as this may be helpful for future project positioning.

1. Originating from MIT

Public information indicates that the birth of Vana can be traced back to a classroom at the MIT Media Lab.

It was there that Anna Kazlauskas and Art Abal met. They are passionate about data democratization and hope to enable users to truly take control of their data through their efforts, which led to the founding of Vana.

Subsequently, the Vana team enabled users to safely contribute private data through an innovative DLP (Data Liquidity Pool) mechanism and a Proof of Contribution system, allowing them to jointly own and benefit from AI models trained on that data.

Their efforts were soon recognized in the industry, having raised $25 million in total financing before the TGE, with top VCs such as Coinbase Ventures, Paradigm, and Polychain among the investors.

Now, they have successfully landed on Binance, marking a victory for academia, and serving as an inspiration for young people eager to change the world.

2. Collaboration and interaction with the a16z team

Recently, a16z partners released a notable list of AI projects, with Vana being the only mentioned Web3 project.

Interestingly, a16z is not an investor in Vana, which also reflects Vana's influence in the industry.

Co-founder Art admitted in an interview that although a16z did not directly invest in Vana, they received a lot of indirect and informal support from a16z.

"I believe the reason they provide us with so much support is that we are highly aligned in our goals of pushing Web3 forward. We want to make Web3 more accessible and ensure it can solve real problems."

3. Data DAOs springing up everywhere

DLP (Data Liquidity Pool) is the core function of the Vana ecosystem, where users earn tokens by contributing data, creating what is known as data liquidity. Each data DAO or liquidity pool focuses on specific types of data.

For us, this is actually similar to 'data mining': when you are optimistic about a certain DAO, contribute data according to their rules, and you will receive corresponding rewards and airdrops.

Public data shows that since the launch of the developer test network in June 2024, the Vana network has attracted 1.3 million users, over 300 data DAOs, and a daily trading volume of 1.7 million.

4. Dual-token economic model

In the Vana ecosystem, data DAOs of all sizes have their own sub-tokens, which correspond to the parent token $VANA (such as airdrops, etc.).

This is the dual-token economic model designed by Vana: setting a unified base token $VANA at the protocol level while allowing each data DAO to issue its own exclusive token, with different roles and functions for the parent and sub-tokens.

For example, each data DAO must stake at least 10,000 $VANA to operate. This way, the parent token's value is directly tied to ecosystem development; they rise and fall together.

5. Uncertainty in future development

From a design perspective, the emergence of Vana marks a paradigm shift in the data economy. However, whether Vana can ultimately succeed still faces many uncertainties.

Rhythm has summarized this: technically, it needs to find a balance between openness and security; economically, it must prove that its model can generate sustainable value; socially, it also needs to address potential data ethics and regulatory challenges.

Regardless, Vana has provided us with a window to rethink the value of data, AI ethics, and technological innovation. We look forward to more innovative projects in this field that will help the data economy take off.