New Blockchain Solves 'Trillion-Dollar Data Theft' Problem for Creators

Date: November 21, 2025

The data theft' problem for creators conflict between the generative AI boom and the creators who fuel it has reached a critical turning point. A Polychain-backed Web3 infrastructure firm, OpenLedger, has launched its OPEN Mainnet, introducing a cryptographic system designed to embed accountability and compensation directly into the heart of artificial intelligence.

The move formalizes what the company calls "Payable AI," a direct challenge to the current practice of AI firms scraping vast public datasets without compensation, a practice that has fueled high-profile lawsuits against tech giants and caused public trust in AI to plummet.

Proof of Attribution: The Digital Receipt

At the core of the new infrastructure is the Proof of Attribution (PoA) mechanism. This system leverages blockchain technology to record the lineage of every dataset, model, and AI agent on-chain, creating an immutable, verifiable trail.

“For the first time, creators have a verifiable digital receipt for their intellectual property,” said a spokesperson for OpenLedger. “Every output generated by an AI model built on our network can be traced back to the original researcher, writer, or domain expert who provided the training data.”

This traceability transforms the economics of contribution:

• Continuous Royalties: Instead of a one-time fee, the system automatically routes micropayments, using the native OPEN token, to data contributors whenever their work is used by an AI model to generate an output (an inference).

• The YouTube Model: The framework is explicitly modeled after creator-economy platforms like YouTube, where content providers earn passive, proportional revenue based on the usage and influence of their work.

Data Theft' Problem for Creators | Incentivizing Quality, Not Just Volume

The implications extend beyond fairness. The current lack of provenance incentivizes AI developers to use low-quality, generic data sets because they are free. By rewarding contributions based on the verifiable influence of the data on the AI’s performance, Payable AI is expected to spur the creation of high-quality, specialized data sets—known on the network as "Datanets."

This is a significant win for specialized domains such as finance, medical research, and legal analysis, where data accuracy and source verification are paramount.

"The launch of the OPEN Mainnet is a paradigm shift. It transforms AI from an extractive industry—taking data for free—to a collaborative, sustainable ecosystem where value flows back to every layer of contribution."— An excerpt from the OpenLedger announcement.

The infrastructure, which is built as an Ethereum Layer-2 rollup for scalability, aims to provide enterprises with a regulatory-compliant solution for sourcing data, a growing necessity as governments and courts move to address the legal ambiguity surrounding AI-generated content.

The mainnet launch, backed by $8 million in seed funding from institutional players including Polychain Capital and Borderless Capital, signals the maturation of Web3 from purely financial speculation to a critical infrastructural layer for the global digital economy.

News Source： bitcoin.com

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This news summary is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, solicitation, or financial guidance. Readers should perform their own due diligence and consult with professional advisors before making any investment decisions.