# Data Providers

Ledgers essentially operate upon the data that they collect. All actions are stored in the form of transactions in a P2P network.

Generally speaking, most data remains limited to the system it was collected in. To create a true on-chain identity protocol that does not need to depend on off-chain data and credentials to establish the reputation of an entity, on-chain data needs to be accessible throughout the Web3 space, and not just stay limited within the respective ledger networks.

A fundamental building block of Orange protocol is data that can be taken from different ledger networks and be made available throughout a whole system of ledger networks. The role of a **Data Provider**, or **DP** is defining schemas that act as interfaces between systems such that their data can be accessed outside their ledger network conveniently and used as input for models designed by different **MPs**.

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**Data Providers** may choose to keep their data **private** and accessible only to themselves on the Orange platform. Any data, unless made **public**, cannot be requested by other users in the Orange network.
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## Why become a DP?

The basic nature of ledgers results in data being collected in P2P networks. Let's say you decide to become a DP and build schemas using the data on your network. This data is now available for the entire Orange ecosystem to be uniformly accessed and processed using the public models.