In the evolving landscape of decentralized data economies, innovative approaches to data provenance, trading, pricing, and monetization are reshaping how data assets are valued and exchanged. We spoke with John Soldatos – a FAME Learning Centre coordinator and a digital finance expert – and discussed key developments in blockchain-based data-monetization, tokenization and AI analytics.
On June 18th, 2025, blockchain industry experts will gather in Hürth, Germany for the second free FAME on-site training session, titled Tokenization and Artificial Intelligence in Data Markets: Programming the Future Data-Driven Economy. The training will explore how decentralized technologies and blockchain tokenization are revolutionizing data asset trading and show live demo on the FAME Marketplace.
As the training is approaching, we sat down with John Soldatos from Innov-Acts, an industry leader and key contributor to FAME, to discuss the future of data monetization and the role of FAME’s Learning Centre in shaping a new era of decentralized data markets.
Q1: Why is data monetization gaining so much attention today?
A few years ago, an article in The Economist claimed that data is nowadays the most valuable resource, even more valuable than oil. Today, this claim is more relevant than ever before, as emerging Generative AI systems need to be fed with high-value data to generate accurate and valuable results for industrial organizations. With such AI, the cost of using AI models (e.g., the cost of tokens) is depreciating at a fast pace. In this environment, they will become easily and cheaply accessible to everyone, while data assets will emerge as the key differentiator. As a result, the ability to price and monetize high-value data assets is more important than ever.
Q2: What challenges do companies face when monetizing data, and how can blockchain help address them?
Many companies have not yet invested in properly collecting and structuring their data assets. They still deal with raw data assets that are hardly reusable, which limits their monetization potential. Nevertheless, we are increasingly seeing industrial organizations in sectors like manufacturing and finance properly organize and structure their data assets. These organizations have a hard time sharing their data with their business partners in a trusted and secure way, which raises ownership concerns. This is where decentralized infrastructure like blockchain technologies can help. They provide powerful ways to share data assets with their value chain partners in ways that are secure, transparent, audited and overall trusted. The tokenization of a data asset in a blockchain environment provides the means for tracking and tracing the process of sharing and (re)using the assets by value chain partners, which boosts trust and facilitates data and IP protection.
Q3: How do organizations determine the value of their data assets?
In recent years, several organizations have begun to offer data-driven services, including services that access and consume data assets (e.g., Data-as-a-Service services). In most cases, they use simple and flat pricing models in order to value their assets. However, there are opportunities for more sophisticated and more dynamic pricing schemes, such as schemes that factor in uniqueness, accuracy, relevance, and overall demand for data assets. Such schemes are studied and implemented within FAME, which also integrates them within market mechanisms. I believe that as organizations offer large volumes and more diverse types of data assets, sophisticated pricing schemes like the ones implemented in FAME will become more popular.
Q4: How does FAME’s approach to decentralized, federated infrastructure improve data monetization?
The FAME blockchain offers a transparent and auditable infrastructure, where metadata about the data assets and their transactions have persisted. This transparency enables the implementation of trusted market mechanisms, where every participant can be assured that the assets are priced fairly and in line with the expected and agreed monetization mechanisms. This is essential in the scope of multi-stakeholder environments such as modern digital finance value chains, where different data assets like datasets, AI models, data-driven outcomes are exchanged.
Q5: What roles do Explainable AI and energy-efficient analytics play in FAME?
FAME caters to the sharing and trading not only of simple datasets, but also of complex data assets, which are derived based on AI processing. To this end, we are also designing, developing and using mechanisms that foster the environmental performance and transparency of AI analytics. For instance, we implement incremental data processing and data analytics techniques that consume less energy when it comes to answering complex queries.
In terms of AI explainability, FAME implements novel techniques that explain entire AI-based business processes rather than simple machine learning state models. Specifically, FAME helps industrial organizations understand why and how an AI-based outcome was produced in the scope of a business process with a specific context.
Q6: A key deliverable of FAME is its Learning Centre. How does it support businesses and professionals?
Managing, pricing, monetizing and sharing data assets with value chain stakeholders requires a cultural shift in various industrial organizations, including both data producers and data consumers. The personnel of these organizations must be upskilled and reskilled to understand the value of data assets and to apply techniques for sharing, pricing and trading them within data marketplaces. Hence, training is a complementary asset that is very important for the success of the FAME results. This is the reason why our project has allocated considerable resources to developing training resources and to delivering various training courses in the form of webinars, face-to-face trainings, as well as self-paced asynchronous courses.
Q7: Where do you see blockchain-powered data monetization heading in the next five years?
I expect a steady rise in the number and the type of data assets that are tokenized. I also foresee the wider use of more sophisticated pricing mechanisms for different types of assets. However, the overall impact of blockchain-based data asset sharing and monetization is closely tied to the evolution and the future of data spaces and of decentralized value chains. The growing adoption of data spaces in Europe will lead to a proliferation of blockchain infrastructure for data monetization in the years to come.
Q8: What advice would you give organizations looking to explore blockchain-based data monetization?
First, it is essential to understand the merits and limitations of blockchain technology. The FAME Learning Centre provides some good learning resources for this purpose. Then they will be able to decide whether they really need a decentralized infrastructure. Once they understand that they need one, they will have to select the proper blockchain type and technology, considering functional requirements, but also requirements related to performance, security and scalability. Most importantly, they must understand that a decentralized ecosystem is all about building a strong community around it. This is a key to increasing the value of their blockchain network for sharing, pricing and monetizing data assets in line with the applicable laws and regulations.
As blockchain technology matures, decentralized data monetization is no longer a theoretical concept – it is becoming a reality. The FAME on-site training sessions on blockchain data monetization demonstrate how federated marketplaces, AI-driven analytics, and programmable data pricing are shaping the future of secure and trustworthy data exchanges.
Conclusion
For businesses and professionals looking to stay ahead, FAME Learning Centre offers a valuable resource to navigate this evolving landscape. Embrace blockchain-powered monetization and unlock new revenue streams and innovation opportunities with us at the free on-site training session in Hürth. Bookings are limited – secure your seat now.
