A clearer Profile

The new Profile reorganises everything you have already verified, surfaces the gaps, and shows which data dimensions qualify for active campaigns. The point is simple: you should be able to see, at a glance, whether you are ready to participate the moment a campaign opens.

Verified credentials remain on your device. They follow the W3C Verifiable Credentials standard, and they leave your wallet only when you choose to authorise a third party. Selective disclosure means you can prove what is needed without giving away what is not.

New data dimensions: ONTO Steam verification arrives

Alongside the social accounts, email, and personal data we already support, v4.10.0 adds a Steam verification flow. Connecting a Steam account turns years of gaming activity into a verifiable signal: hours played, library size, spend history, account age. For game enthusiasts, that history has been sitting idle on a single platform. From today, it can travel with you, on your terms, to campaigns that pay for it.

This is the first move in a wider data verticals push. Steam goes first because the audience is engaged, the signal is rich, and the verification is clean.

The first PALZ data campaign

PALZ Game will launch the first data monetisation campaign on ONTO. Verify a small set of data dimensions, meet the campaign criteria, and you are in for a share of a prize pool of over $2,000. The eligibility is straightforward: $5+ spent on Steam, 10+ hours played, and a follow on PALZ’s X account. The ground rule on the data side is shorter still: anything you submit must be genuine, reliable, and verifiable. Verifiable Credentials are how we enforce that.

Up to 500 qualifying players will be rewarded. Full eligibility, dates, and reward mechanics will be pinned on the ONTO and PALZ X channels.

Celebrate the launch: $500 Steam giveaway on X

To mark the v4.10.0 release, we are running a quick 2 week long giveaway off the back of the launch tweet on X. The mechanic is light: retweet our launch post and comment your favourite Steam game underneath it. We will pick 100 random winners from the comments and send each one $5. Total pool: $500.

The giveaway is open from launch and the closing date is announced on the pinned post. Whether you win or not, the better outcome is connecting your Steam account in the new Profile while you are there: the moment you do, you are eligible for the PALZ campaign and the data campaigns that follow.

Get started

Update ONTO to v4.10.0 from the App Store or Google Play, open Profile, and start verifying. If ONTO is new to you, download the wallet and create yours first. Connect Steam from the new Profile screen, then check the campaigns tab to see what is open.

This release is one move in a longer arc. The platform is built so the next campaign, and the one after that, can plug in without you redoing your work. Verify once, qualify many times, sell on your terms.

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

It doesn’t have to be.

The Value You Create Every Single Day

Right now, every moment you spend online generates data. Your morning scroll through social media, every search query, how long you pause on certain content, your fitness data, your gaming history, what you buy and when you buy it. This data has tremendous value. Companies spend billions annually to acquire it, analyse it, and use it to shape what you see, what you want, and what you buy.

You’ve never seen a pound of that value.

The platforms you use extract this data for free. They’ve built entire business models around it. Your engagement funds their infrastructure. Your behaviour patterns train their algorithms. Your personal details become their inventory. And the benefit flows in one direction: outward, away from you.

What Data Ownership Actually Looks Like

Data ownership isn’t some abstract concept. It has specific, tangible implications.

First, control. You decide who sees what. If a company wants access to your data, you grant it. If you want to revoke it, you do. Under frameworks like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you already have the legal right to access and delete your data. But legal rights and practical control are not the same thing. Your information shouldn’t be locked into a silo controlled by a platform; it should be genuinely yours to manage.

Second, transparency. You see who accesses your data, when, and why. No hidden algorithms deciding what happens to your information in the dark. You can audit the relationships, understand the purpose, and make informed decisions.

Third, compensation. When someone uses your data, you get paid. Not indirectly. Not in the form of a “free service.” Directly. A company needs your anonymised behavioural data to improve their product; they pay you for it. Your data works for you.

Your Digital Identity Is Scattered. It Doesn’t Have to Be.

Here’s another reality that most people don’t pause to consider: your identity is fragmented across dozens of platforms. Your login credentials live on this service. Your reputation, built painstakingly over years, is locked into that one. Your purchase history, your review history, your social connections, your professional credentials; all scattered.

None of which you actually control. Each platform owns a slice of who you are.

Imagine consolidating that. Your credentials, your reputation, your history, your preferences; all in one place that belongs to you. Portable. Verifiable. Able to move with you across the web without needing permission from any single gatekeeper. You become the authoritative source of your own identity. Services can verify that you’re trustworthy without needing to lock you in.

The Infrastructure Already Exists

This isn’t science fiction. The technological foundations are already being built. Decentralised identity standards mean your credentials can exist independently of any platform. Reputation systems can prove you’re credible without revealing your personal details. Trust layers allow this to function at scale, securely and efficiently.

What we’re seeing now is the shift from infrastructure to adoption. From technical possibility to user experience. From “this could work” to “this is how people actually own their digital lives.” Meanwhile, the cost of data breaches continues to climb, reinforcing why the current model of centralised data storage is unsustainable.

From Product to Owner

The shift from “you are the product” to “you are the owner” isn’t a small one. It rewires the relationship between you and the services you use.

Your data doesn’t get extracted anymore. It works for you. Your identity doesn’t get scattered across platforms. It belongs to you. Your reputation isn’t held hostage by an algorithm. It follows you.

This isn’t about rejecting the digital world. It’s about changing who’s in control of it.

The question isn’t whether data ownership becomes the norm. It’s whether you’re early or late.

Follow ONTO Wallet to see what data ownership looks like.

onto.app