Why ONTO Is Making This Shift

The ONTO data wallet is here, and it changes how you relate to your own information. Every app you use collects data about you. Your preferences, your behaviour, your identity. That data gets packaged, sold, and used to train AI models, target ads, and build products. The value flows in one direction: away from you.

The AI training data market alone is projected to grow from $7.48 billion in 2025 to $52.41 billion by 2035. That growth is built on human data. The question is whether the humans producing that data should have a say in how it is used, and whether they should benefit from it.

ONTO was built on Ontology’s decentralised identity infrastructure: ONT ID for verifiable credentials, and Orange Protocol for reputation scoring and cross-chain data aggregation. Those capabilities already give users portable, self-sovereign identity across Web3. The next step is to make that identity productive: to let users contribute their data, verify it, and earn from it on their own terms.

That is the shift. The ONTO data wallet evolves Ontology’s existing identity tools into a platform that puts your data to work.

How It Works: Use, Earn, Control

ONTO’s data ownership model follows three stages. Each one builds on the last, and together they create something that has not existed in Web3 before: a user-controlled data economy.

Stage 1: Use

You submit your data to access real services that benefit you directly. The first example is AI Avatars: upload your profile information and ONTO generates a personalised AI avatar using your own data. It is not a gimmick. It is the first practical demonstration that your data has value, and that you are the one who should benefit from contributing it.

This is a deliberate inversion of the current model. Instead of platforms quietly harvesting your data in the background, you choose to contribute it, and you receive something tangible in return.

Stage 2: Earn

Once you have verified your data, it becomes more than just information sitting in a profile. It becomes something meaningful, something the ecosystem recognises as yours and rewards you for contributing. Instead of having your information silently extracted, you receive corresponding incentives for the data you choose to share.

Stage 3: Control

This is where the model reaches its full potential. Users decide which third parties can access their data, for what purpose, and under what conditions. Authorisation is granular and revocable. You might allow a gaming studio to see your play history but keep your financial data private. You might sell anonymised behavioural data to an AI training company while retaining full control over your identity credentials.

The key principle: your data, your terms, your revenue. ONTO facilitates the connection between users and data buyers, but the user always holds the keys.

The Product Vision

The vision behind the ONTO data wallet is straightforward. Today, platforms use data. Tomorrow, users should decide how data is used. The whole model shifts from passive participation to active ownership, where individuals shape where their data goes and how it gets applied.

This reframes data as something owned by users rather than something exploited by platforms. It introduces user participation into a technological equation that has, until now, largely left them out. AI Avatars are the first proof of that principle. The rest of the roadmap builds on the same foundation.

What Is in the New Release

The new ONTO update (v4.9.23) is the first release built around this vision. Here is what it includes:

AI Avatar Creation. Submit your profile data and generate a personalised AI avatar. This is the Use stage in action: your data powers a service that benefits you directly. Avatars can be static images or animated, with animated versions available via ONT or ONG payment.

Enhanced AI Profile. Your ONTO profile now functions as a structured data profile. Personal details, preferences, and activity data are organised in a way that makes them valuable and verifiable. This is the foundation for the Earn and Control stages that follow.

Data Contribution Framework. The underlying architecture for submitting, verifying, and managing your data is now in place. This release focuses on the user experience of contributing data and receiving immediate value. Future updates will expand the types of data you can contribute and introduce the full reward and authorisation systems.

How to Get Started

Once the new version is live on iOS and Android:

1. Update ONTO to the latest version from the App Store or Google Play.

2. Open your AI Profile and complete your profile information. The more data you contribute, the richer your avatar and the stronger your profile for future earning opportunities.

3. Generate your AI Avatar using the new creation tool. You can save it, regenerate it, or upgrade to an animated version.

4. Stay tuned for the next updates, which will introduce data verification, ONG rewards, and the ability to authorise data access to third parties.

What Comes Next

AI Avatars are the starting point, not the destination. Here is what is on the roadmap:

Data verification and rewards. The next step is verifying the data you submit and rewarding users for contributing verified information. This is where the Earn stage comes to life.

Third-party data authorisation. After that, the Control stage: choose which third parties can access your data, set your own terms, and revoke access whenever you want.

Campaigns and activities. Alongside each release, we will run campaigns and community activities designed to give early users additional ways to engage with the new features.

The vision is clear: a world where your data works for you, not against you. ONTO is building the tools to make that real, one feature at a time.

Download ONTO and build your profile today. The future of your data starts with you.

Download ONTO Wallet  |  Learn more about Ontology

Right now, your data flows through platforms that dictate the rules. They own the relationship. They own your data. You own nothing. But data sovereignty changes that equation. It’s not hypothetical. It’s not coming. It’s here. And once you understand these three powers, you’ll understand why platforms built on extraction are so desperate to keep you from claiming them. This isn’t philosophy. It’s practical power. It’s yours to claim.

Power 1: Control

Right now, you click “agree” to terms of service you’ll never read, and then a company owns a copy of your data forever. Revoke? Not really. Delete? Maybe, if you ask nicely and wait three months. Granular control over what specific data goes where? Forget it. You get an all-or-nothing choice: accept their entire data collection apparatus or don’t use the service.

With data sovereignty, you control at the source. Not the platform. Not regulators. You. You decide who sees what. You grant access to your location data, but only on Tuesdays. You grant access to your browsing history for one specific marketing campaign, then revoke it. You share your health data with a researcher, but for a limited time window. You decide. The data stays yours. Someone wants your browsing history? You say yes or no. Someone wants your health data? Same thing. This isn’t permission that expires. This is permission you control, actively, all the time.

This is what GDPR calls the “right to access” and the “right to erasure”. GDPR gives you the legal right to these powers. But GDPR requires regulatory enforcement. Someone has to complain. Someone has to investigate. Someone has to sue. With data sovereignty and decentralised identity, you don’t need regulators. You enforce it yourself. The data lives with you, not with them. Companies access it only when you explicitly say so. No hidden agreements. No terms buried in small print. Just you, in control.

No locked-in silos. No data hostages locked in corporate vaults. No switching costs because you lose all your history. Just pure control.

Power 2: Transparency

Tech companies love opacity. They love that you can’t see their algorithms. You don’t know how they classified you. They might have labeled you as “high-income” or “vulnerable to scams” or “politically radical”. You don’t know which of your data points triggered which decision. You’re a ghost in their machine. An input. A data point. A variable in their profit equation.

With data sovereignty and decentralised identity, the fog clears. You see every access. Who accessed your data? When did they access it? What did they do with it? Why did they access it? Full audit trail. Not a “privacy policy” hidden behind terms of service. Not a “we might be using this for this”. An actual log. Timestamps. Purpose codes. Proof. You know exactly what’s happening to your information at every moment.

This kills the algorithmic black box. The W3C DID specification creates the framework for this kind of verifiable, auditable interaction. Every data access is cryptographically signed. Tamper-proof. You don’t need to trust the platform. You can verify what they did, when they did it, and why. You can audit your own data in real time.

No hidden algorithms. No invisible operations. No guessing. Just truth.

Power 3: Monetisation

Your data is worth billions. Not to you. To them. Google, Meta, TikTok, Amazon, Microsoft. They extract it. They refine it. They package it. They sell it. They build empires on it. You get “free” email. You get “free” social media. You get “free” cloud storage. That’s the bargain: your data for their services. Except it’s not a bargain. It’s a trap.

Here’s what you didn’t know: that deal is optional now. With data sovereignty, when someone uses your data, you get paid. Not through a “free” service with hidden ads. Directly. A company wants to train an AI model on your data? Pay you. A marketer wants access to your preferences and browsing history? Pay you. A researcher wants your anonymised health data? Pay you. The relationship flips. You’re not the product. You’re the vendor. You’re the data provider. You control the transaction.

Look at where Big Tech’s revenue actually comes from. Meta reported 98% of revenue from advertising in 2024. Google? 80% from advertising. That advertising revenue is built entirely on your data. Your behaviour. Your interests. Your location. Your attention. Your secrets. Right now, you see none of it. A platform makes $10,000 from your data and gives you back a $5 service. That’s not a bargain. That’s extraction.

With direct monetisation through data sovereignty, the power shifts. You decide the price. You decide the buyer. You decide the duration. You decide the use case. You decide the terms. No platform middleman. No extraction. Your data, your rules, your earnings.

Why Big Tech Doesn’t Want You to Have These Powers

These three powers don’t just inconvenience Big Tech. They destroy its moat. They tear down the walls that protect its monopoly.

The entire business model of modern tech platforms rests on your powerlessness. Control? They own it. You own nothing. Transparency? They hide it. You can’t see their algorithms. You can’t audit your data. You can’t prove what they did with it. Monetisation? They keep it. All of it. This asymmetry is the foundation of their profit. If you have control, they can’t exploit you. If you have transparency, you can’t be manipulated. If you have monetisation, the “free” extraction model collapses.

This is why they fight data sovereignty. This is why they lobby against regulation that gives you rights. This is why they bury privacy settings three layers deep. Not because it’s hard to implement. Because they don’t want you to have it. They don’t want you to have control. They don’t want you to see what they’re doing. They don’t want you to get paid.

Decentralised identity makes all three powers possible. And that terrifies them. Because once you can control your data, see what’s happening to it in real time, and get paid for it, the extraction model becomes unsustainable. They can’t compete on lock-in anymore. They can’t compete on information asymmetry. They can’t compete on free services subsidised by your unpaid labour. They’ll have to compete on actual value. On actual service. On actual innovation. Not on lock-in. Not on surveillance. Not on extraction.

They’re not afraid of the technology. They’re afraid of you having power.

The Shift Is Happening

These aren’t theoretical powers. They’re not some utopian future. The infrastructure exists right now. Decentralised identity standards are implemented. Zero-knowledge proofs are live. Blockchain-based data marketplaces are operating. Open identity protocols are scaling. The tools are here. The technology is proven.

The only question left is whether you claim them. Whether you demand data sovereignty. Whether you opt out of the extraction economy and opt into the ownership economy.

If you’ve been following this series, you already know that the current data economy is broken. You already understand that your data is making billions and you see none of it. You understand that this is by design, not accident. That the extraction model is intentional. That the companies benefiting from it will fight to preserve it. Now you know the specific powers you have to change it. Control. Transparency. Monetisation. Not wishes. Not hopes. Real, actionable, implementable powers. Powers you can exercise right now.

Data sovereignty isn’t about building the perfect alternative system. It’s about giving you the freedom to own the system you choose to use. To decide the terms. To control the flow. To capture the value. Your data, your rules, your earnings.

Follow ONTO Wallet to learn what these powers look like in practice.