Itheum

Itheum is a data ownership protocol that lets people and organisations tokenize, control and trade access to their data. It runs on Solana and MultiversX, and after shutting down its earlier apps it is rebuilding as a "trust layer" for AI agents and autonomous systems.

Itheum's own history dates the project to 2018. Its stated mission is "to empower people and organizations to own, control, and trade their data." The project has changed direction several times. Its latest shift, now under way in 2026, moves it from data marketplaces toward verifiable trust standards for AI. This profile covers both what Itheum built and where it stands now.

Current status: rebuilding

As of September 2026 the project is active but changing. Its website now calls Itheum "The Trust Layer for Autonomous Systems." On X, the team said in September 2026 that it is "currently rebuilding and relaunching new Itheum technology" focused on AI alignment, privacy, trust and ownership.

The current site describes a two-part structure:

• Trust Standards Alliance: an open-standards body in which community members, academic groups and enterprise partners write shared, objective trust benchmarks.
• Trust Pledges: short "LLM-friendly" trust statements in plain language. They are meant to measure how trustworthy people, content, payments and systems are in real time.
• Staked Identity: tying economic capital to a digital identity so that people can place more trust in AI agents and autonomous systems.
• Trust Fabric: the planned flagship SDK, which is meant to write these trust standards directly into smart contracts. The site says it is launching soon.

The site lists C2PA, SIGMA, Zedge Horizon, BONDED and ICI as partners. It frames the ITHEUM token as the way to "govern human trust." None of these new products had shipped publicly when this profile was written.

How the original protocol worked

Itheum is best known for Data NFTs. Its docs describe them as "transferable licenses" to a data asset rather than collectibles. When a creator mints a Data NFT, the location of the underlying data is recorded on-chain as a "Data Stream URL." That URL can point to centralised storage such as AWS or GitHub, or to decentralised storage such as IPFS or Arweave. A network of Data Marshal nodes encrypts the URL, so only the current NFT holder can open the data. The content behind a Data NFT can be updated, so the asset can change over time. The protocol's SDKs make these assets programmable and composable.

The project added Liveliness, an on-chain reputation system, on top of Data NFTs. When minting, creators locked a slashable bond in ITHEUM for a set period. Their Liveliness score started at 100% and declined as the bond neared expiry. Renewing the bond reset the score. Withdrawing early led to slashing, and most of the bond went to affected data buyers. The project's DAO could also slash creators for misconduct, such as replacing data with malicious content. ITHEUM holders could also stake to support creators.

Other tools from this period included:

• the Data DEX, a marketplace for minting and trading Data NFTs;
• the Itheum Explorer, a front end for data widgets;
• NFMe ID vaults;
• the BiTz XP points system;
• a Web3 Gamer Passport tested on Astar Network.

Version history

Itheum's own retrospective describes four stages:

• V0 (2018): health data ownership on Web2 infrastructure. The team says resistance from institutions held it back.
• V1 (2022): the Data DEX and Data NFTs for creative and professional assets. The team entered hackathons run by Polygon, Hedera, Filecoin and Ivan on Tech, but interest faded as the NFT and metaverse narratives cooled.
• V2 (2024): bulk Data NFTs for AI training data, gaming and music, plus NFMe ID and Liveliness staking. The team cites a finalist place in the Sony Web3 Accelerator and a top-five placing at a Solana summit. The team says adoption slowed as enthusiasm for decentralised AI faded.
• V3, "Aithra" (announced October 2025): a unified protocol layer for data tokenization, storage, encryption and IP licensing, aimed at AI agents. The roadmap listed a Gateway, a Workspace UI, and an SDK with MCP support, due to roll out between Q3 2025 and Q1 2026. Aithra did not create a new token.

In March 2025 Itheum announced a partnership with Walrus, the decentralised storage protocol on Sui, to store large music and video files behind Data NFTs. That announcement names Mark Paul as founder and CEO.

Solana presence

Itheum expanded to Solana during its V2 phase. It launched its first Solana Data NFTs as an airdrop through [[PROJECT:389]]. That drop was a tiered XP-generator collection connected to the BiTz and Liveliness systems. The project later released music Data NFT collections on Solana and published Solana guides for minting, bonding and Liveliness staking.

The Aithra FAQ says newer tools are being built on Sui, Story and Solana. Existing Data NFTs on Solana still work and can be accessed through the Itheum SDK.

Sunset of earlier apps

The project has published an end-of-support schedule for its V0–V2 interfaces:

• The Itheum Explorer closed on 1 November 2025.
• The MultiversX Data DEX and BiTz XP collection closed on 15 November 2025. MultiversX BiTz could be migrated to Solana.
• NFMe ID and Liveliness staking and bonding closed on both MultiversX and Solana on 15 January 2026. Solana stakers could withdraw early without penalty.

The docs say these products were "just UI layers over smart contracts," so the underlying contracts and assets stay on-chain.

The ITHEUM token

ITHEUM is a multi-chain token. On Solana it is an SPL token, [[TOKEN:iTHSaXjdqFtcnLK4EFEs7mqYQbJb6B7GostqWbBQwaV]], with mint address iTHSaXjdqFtcnLK4EFEs7mqYQbJb6B7GostqWbBQwaV. On MultiversX it is ITHEUM-df6f26. According to the token docs, the maximum supply has been cut from 1 billion to 850 million. More than 150 million tokens have been burned, and more burns are planned.

Since Aithra, the token's main role is governance: holders vote on the open-source roadmap, public-goods funding and protocol settings. Earlier uses such as bonding and staking could return by DAO vote.

The Omni-Chain Portal bridge moves ITHEUM between MultiversX and Solana. It uses liquidity pools on each chain rather than minting and burning tokens. Each transfer must be between 10 and 100,000 ITHEUM. Transfers from MultiversX to Solana cost 0.05 EGLD, and transfers from Solana to MultiversX are free. Each transfer typically takes 9 to 18 minutes.

Security

Itheum's documentation includes a bug bounty page. Its security audit page still reads "Coming Soon," so Itheum has not published a smart contract audit.