Itheum V3 Upgrade: Get Ready For Hyper-Digital, AGI-Ready Data
🟢 Read a more detailed version of this post on our official docs
TL;DR — Aithra: Itheum’s Next Leap Forward
Since 2018, Itheum has been building toward a world where data is owned, not extracted. With Itheum Aithra (V3), we unify seven years of learnings — from healthcare data ownership to Data NFTs to AI data tokenization — into one mission: to create a full-stack Abstraction + Unification blockchain protocol layer for data tokenization, storage, encryption, and IP licensing that powers the hyper-digital AGI data economy.
- Why now: AI has reached the limits of public web data. The world is now moving beyond digital — into the hyper-digital era, where data must be private, permissioned, and verifiably owned.
- What Aithra does: Provides developers, builders, and AI agents with a unified way to source, tokenize, encrypt, and license data — enabling the creation of hyper-digital data assets ready for intelligent systems and agent economies.
- Commercial model: Open-source infrastructure powered by public goods, complemented by enterprise-grade Gateways for organizations seeking web2-friendly access.
- Token updates: The $ITHEUM token evolves into a governance-focused utility, reinforcing community ownership and scarcity through planned burns and protocol alignment.
- Roadmap: Gateway (Q3 2025) → Workspace UI (Q4 2025) → SDK + MCP (Q1 2026)
Aithra is the foundation for the next decade of hyper-digital data ownership, privacy, and innovation. We’ve never stopped building — we’re just getting smarter about what the world needs next.
The Journey So Far — Learning Through Evolution
Since its inception in 2018, Itheum has constantly evolved through industry cycles, guided by a single goal: to empower people and organizations to own, control, and trade their data. Each version of Itheum was a reflection of the technological and cultural moment — and each brought lessons that shaped the next.
V0 (2018): Web2 Health Data Ownership
Our first version tackled healthcare data ownership, letting patients collect and control their data in encrypted Web2 stores. We learned that while healthcare was ripe for disruption, Web2 ecosystems resist data ownership — control was deeply institutional.
V1 (2022): Data DEX and the Metaverse Narrative
We launched a Data DEX and Data NFTs, allowing creative and professional data assets to be traded. The idea resonated in the early Web3 world, winning/placing in multiple hackathons (Polygon, Hedera, FileCoin, Ivan on Tech’s web3 hackathon etc) and global partnerships. Yet, as the NFT and metaverse narratives cooled, we realized timing and user adoption were everything.
V2 (2024): Data for the AI Era
We pivoted to “Bulk Data” Data NFTs for AI training, gaming, and music — alongside NFMe ID and Liveliness Staking for proof of humanity. Our tech was recognized globally (Sony Web3 Accelerator finalist, Solana Summit hackathon top 5 winner). But as decentralized AI hype faded, adoption slowed.
Key Learnings
Across all versions, we learned the vital importance of timing, market fit, and cultural readiness. The idea of data ownership is powerful, but to find true product-market fit, it must align with where the world is heading.
The Next Evolution: Introducing Itheum Aithra (V3)
Aithra represents the culmination of years of iteration — a redefinition of how data infrastructure should work in the next evolution of the internet. It is the full-stack Abstraction + Unification layer for tokenization, storage, encryption, privacy, and IP licensing — purpose-built for the era of hyper-digital data.
Over time, the internet has evolved from analog to digital, and now, we are entering the hyper-digital era — where data becomes programmable, verifiable, and interoperable across both humans and intelligent agents. Aithra abstracts the complexity of multiple blockchains, wallets, and payment systems into a seamless data infrastructure layer that enables this transition.
Why the World Needs Itheum Aithra Now
AI has become mainstream, consuming vast amounts of data — mostly web-scraped from the public domain. That pool is finite, and in many ways, already exhausted. The world now needs data that goes beyond the “digital.”
To build the next generation of intelligent systems and agent-based economies, we need hyper-digital data — data that carries built-in ownership, licensing, privacy, and value semantics. This is the data that can power AI responsibly, enable interoperability between humans and machines, and sustain new forms of value exchange.
Aithra builds the rails for this new economy: secure, tokenized, and permissioned data flows that empower both people and autonomous systems to exchange and build on data in transparent and equitable ways.
Is using “AGI” just an attempt to chase a buzzword?
We understand this concern — and we’ve discussed it internally too. The web3 world has seen enough hype cycles, and Itheum has always focused on building with authenticity.
For us, terms like “AI” or “AGI” are not marketing slogans — they are context markers for where the world of data is heading. The real story isn’t just about artificial intelligence; it’s about the data layer that underpins it.
AI models have already absorbed most publicly available digital data. What’s next is the need for hyper-digital data — high-integrity, privacy-aware, and verifiably owned datasets that are ready for intelligent systems to consume ethically and permissionlessly.
That’s exactly where Itheum Aithra fits in: it’s the data infrastructure that powers this new phase of the internet, where data ownership and utility merge. So when we reference AI or AGI, it’s not to chase trends — it’s to articulate the very real challenge we are solving and the future we are actively preparing for.
Core Thesis and Extended Vision
Core Thesis:
- Centralized AI data harvesting is exhausted.
- The next era of the internet will demand hyper-digital data — data that is private, permissioned, and tied to IP ownership.
- Blockchain provides the foundation for this through verifiable ownership and immutability, but fragmentation limits usability.
- Aithra unifies these systems — offering the Abstraction + Unification layer that connects decentralized storage, encryption, tokenization, and licensing into one coherent data infrastructure.
Extended Vision:
As AI and autonomous agents evolve, they will create and exchange new kinds of data — what we call Hyper-Digital Data Assets. Aithra provides the native SDKs, protocols, and crypto payment rails that enable these agents to tokenize, license, and store data autonomously.
Just as the internet once moved from offline (analog) to online (digital), we now move on-chain (hyper-digital) — and Itheum Aithra is the infrastructure making that leap possible.
Analog Data (offline) → Digital Data (online, AI-ready) → Hyper-Digital Data (on-chain, AGI ready)
Architecture and Technology Overview
The Infra Layer is the OSS (Open Source) / Public Goods protocol layer that is open for all to use via web3 native permissionless, self-custody rails. The Infra Layer abstracts multiple distributed 3rd party protocols (tools and blockchains) and serves as the Abstraction + Unification Interface for the protocol features offered by Itheum Aithra. Platform governance of the Infra Layer will be offered by the $ITHEUM token.
Usage of the Infra Layer will require payment via stablecoins and network tokens like SOL, SUI, and USDC, with payments depending on the service you require (e.g. Storage + IP + Privacy) along with other metrics like data size (in MB/GB) and/or length of service contract (monthly, yearly or longer — like decades).
The Infra Layer is a web3 native interface, allowing for both autonomous consumption (e.g. via on-chain AI agents) and for consumer (human) consumption (via apps or tooling) built on top of the core protocol. We will offer a Workspace UI, which is a web app that allows anyone to access the features via simple user experience, and we will also aim to offer a SDK / MCP for developers and AI Agents to use the features of Itheum Aithra.
The distribution layer is how we aim to encourage and incentivise growth of the Itheum Aithra’s Infra Layer. This distribution layer will consist of various public built Consumer Apps that offer features powered by Itheum Aithra capabilities. Sigma Music (for e.g.) is a web2 music platform that offers Music, Fan Tokens and Collectibles and AI Remix Licensing, and these 2 product features are powered by Itheum Aithra capabilities and Agenta, another consumer app in development, has a feature called Sovereign Data Vaults, powered by Itheum Aithra.
Consumer Apps can use Workspace UI and SDK / MCP directly to build, but these web2 companies may have specific constraints, e.g. not handle payment via crypto, have region based data storage compliance needs or have a need for 24/7 custom/tech support (like like any other tech platform) — to accommodate these “web2” style tech platform requirements, Itheum Gateways will offer web2 friendly onboarding and enterprise-grade abstraction for companies looking to explore the deep tech offered by itheum Aithra. Itheum Gateways are also an opportunity for web2 tech companies to get exposure to and to “re-sell” web3 tech offered by Itheum Aithra. This close symbiotic relationship between the Infra Layer and the distribution layer is well positioned to help drive growth.
Aithra Workspace UI
Aithra Workspace is a clean, intuitive web interface that lets anyone turn ordinary files into hyper-digital data assets — tokenized, privacy-controlled, and ready for the AGI-driven data economy.
With a simple drag-and-drop upload, users can instantly begin shaping their data into something much more powerful. Each step in the Workspace flow adds optional intelligence and control — from how files are stored, encrypted, or shared, to whether they can be tokenized, licensed, or even used for federated AI learning.
You can:
- Upload files in any format — from images and audio to structured data.
- Set storage preferences (static or dynamic) to control mutability.
- Add encryption and privacy settings to decide who can access your data.
- Tokenize your asset to make it ownable and tradable.
- Attach IP licensing to define how others can use it — including options for creative, commercial, or AI-training rights.
- Enable federated learning to let AI systems train on your data and pay you for it.
When finished, Aithra Workspace presents a clear summary and cost breakdown before you complete payment in USDC — making it transparent and predictable to publish your data on-chain.
The result: a seamless, web3-native experience that transforms your everyday digital files into sovereign, monetizable data assets — assets built for the emerging AGI era, where data ownership, privacy, and value all converge.
SDK /MPC
Whilst the Aithra Workspace is aimed at human users, all features provided by the UI will also be available via an SDK for developer access, allowing you to build your own data workflows within your apps. An MCP server will also be provided to offer an agentic-friendly interface for AI agents to autonomously generate hyper-digital data assets.
Commercialization Model and Token Utility
Itheum remains open-source public goods infrastructure. However, Aithra introduces a commercial, enterprise layer — the Itheum Gateway. This allows Web2 companies to integrate the tech via enterprise pathways (tools and APIs), similar to how Red Hat commercialized Linux. Payments for public-goods infra layer usage support stablecoins and network tokens like SOL, SUI, and USDC, whereas, Itheum Gateway will support more web2 payment rails like USD, Credit Cards etc
$ITHEUM Token : Transitioning to a Governance Token
The $ITHEUM token transitions into a governance-focused role. Its utility centers on decision-making for open-source direction, roadmap and public goods funding and ecosystem benefits (e.g. grants to build). To enhance credibility and scarcity, additional tokens will be burned soon (pending a upcoming DAO vote), reducing total supply and strengthening token economics. The new burn will be announced as part of our “Burn Program” procedure, which involves a proposal and DAO vote. As you may know, a Phase 1 Burn was concluded and resulted in the burn of 150,000,000 $ITHEUM tokens already. See here: https://docs.itheum.io/product-docs/protocol/token-burning/phase-1-token-burn-program
Building the Ecosystem: Consumer Apps and Distribution
Aithra’s adoption will grow through ecosystem apps that bring its power to end-users. Two such apps are Sigma Music (Live) and Agenta (In Development) — autonomous projects with their own roadmaps and tokens. Sigma Music showcases Itheum’s potential in music data tokenization and IP licensing. Agenta expands into AI agent data flows, enabling real-time agentic commerce.
Aithra Roadmap
🟢 View the live roadmap here: https://docs.itheum.io/product-docs/getting-started/itheum-aithra-roadmap
Below is a summary of key milestones…
Q3 2025: Itheum Gateway Live + Core Update 1
Itheum Gateway launch + Storage, Tokenization, basic IP Licensing features added to Aithra infra
Q4 2025: Workspace UI Live + Core Update 2
Workspace UI app launch, Advanced IP Licensing features added to Aithra infra
Q1 2026: SDK/MCP Launch + Core Update 3
Privacy and Encryption features added to Aithra infra
Sunsetting Earlier Versions (V0–V2)
The web3 landscape evolves rapidly, and so must we. To sharpen our focus on Aithra, we are “hibernating” older Itheum versions. These products, while important milestones, will now move to End-of-Support (EOS) status. Smart contracts remain immutable and will persist, demonstrating the resilience of Web3.
🟢 View the list of tools and software that will be sunset along with migration steps here: https://docs.itheum.io/product-docs/getting-started/sunsetting-earlier-versions-v0-v2
Will these products disappear forever?
No, most of these products are just UI layers over smart contracts and we are EOSing them due to low usage in the current market environment. We can always re-hydrate them if broader web3 market metas evolve.
Conclusion — The Road Ahead
Itheum Aithra is more than a product — it’s the manifestation of our mission. Itheum has weathered multiple cycles, evolving with each lesson. As we enter the AGI era, we stand at the intersection of data, privacy, and human creativity. Aithra is our bet on the future: a unified data economy where ownership, privacy, and value flow freely between humans and AI agents.
To our builders, holders, and believers — thank you for standing with us through every chapter. The best is yet to come.
🟢 Read a more detailed version of this post on our official docs
🟢 We have put together a detailed community FAQ here
About Itheum
Since 2018, Itheum has been building toward a world where data is owned, not extracted. With Itheum, we unify years of learnings — from healthcare data ownership to Data NFTs to AI data tokenization — into one mission: to create a full-stack Abstraction + Unification blockchain protocol layer for data tokenization, storage, encryption, and IP licensing that powers the hyper-digital AGI data economy.
Website | X (Twitter) | Discord | Telegram | YouTube | Instagram | Linkedin
