🔔 Preface:


Now, AI content is becoming increasingly competitive, and IP is becoming more important. For any viral meme, short video, or AI artwork, without a clear ownership or authorization system, it’s unclear who owns it, how it can be used, and whether payment is required? The traditional IP management system clearly cannot keep up with the current pace.


So @Story (꧁IP꧂) From this, they intend to create an 'on-chain IP protocol layer' that allows creators to better protect, manage, and monetize their works while also facilitating derivative works, collaborations, and adaptations, thereby building a composable creation ecosystem on-chain.


1️⃣ Project Introduction:

Story Protocol was established in 2022, co-founded by Seung Yoon Lee, Jason Zhao, and Jason Levy, with major institutions such as a16z crypto and Polychain Capital supporting it.

Currently, the barrier to AI creation is too low, content is exploding too quickly, and the traditional methods of negotiating contracts and copyrights are too slow and costly. Its positioning: to create a 'programmable IP layer' that manages everything from work registration, licensing, to royalty distribution on-chain. Simply put, whether you are an original author or looking to collaborate, create derivative works, or engage in commercial partnerships, you can establish rules through the protocol, executed automatically by smart contracts.

2️⃣ Core Functional Features:


🔸 Programmable IP: This is the core logic of Story Protocol. Through smart contracts, creators can clarify their IP usage rules, such as who to authorize, royalty proportions, usage scope, etc. It transforms contracts that were traditionally negotiated offline into on-chain rules.

🔸 ERC-6551: It utilizes a relatively new standard, ERC-6551, which allows NFTs to have wallet functionality, similar to a dynamic identity, no longer just a static image or file. For example, an NFT IP can hold assets, sign authorizations, receive royalties, and in the future, participate in collaborations and upgrade attributes.

🔸 PIL Protocol: PIL is an on-chain licensing protocol launched by Story that supports multiple authorization models: one-time payment, ongoing revenue share, time limits, territorial limits, etc. It also considers compatibility with real-world laws, such as compliance with the Berne Convention and other intellectual property frameworks.

💡 Other Highlight Features:

➤ On-chain IP Registration: Record original ownership to avoid copyright disputes;

➤ Authorization Automation: Authorizations can be executed automatically without offline disputes;

➤ Strong Composability: Supports multiple IP interactions, suitable for collaborations and derivative products;

➤ Authorization Liquidity: IP authorizations can circulate and trade in the secondary market like NFTs.


3️⃣ Financing Situation and $IP Token:

Series B investors also include Polychain Capital, Stability AI Ltd. VP Scott Trowbridge, K11 founder Adrian Cheng, Cozomo de' Medici, Hashed, and Brevan Howard.

$IP is its native token, with a total supply of 1 billion, current circulation of 270 million, priced around $4.69, and a market cap of $1.26 billion. Its uses include paying gas fees, registering and verifying IP assets, licensing IP assets, participating in governance, staking to ensure network security, and implementing revenue sharing and royalty distribution.

4️⃣ Recent News Situation:

➤ Creator Toolkit Release (April 2025): A developer toolkit was launched, including smart contract templates, API interfaces, etc., making it easy for developers to quickly integrate IP registration, authorization, revenue sharing, and other functionalities, especially suitable for platforms that deal with video, audio, and AI works.

➤ IP Portal Beta Launch (April 11, 2025): This is Story's first actual product aimed at creators, supporting IP registration, setting authorizations, viewing on-chain ownership, and more, officially opening the platform to the public.

➤ Integration with Coin98 Super Wallet (April 22, 2025): Coin98 is a popular multi-chain wallet in Southeast Asia. This collaboration makes Story Protocol's functionalities easier for ordinary users to access and opens up the Asian user market.

➤ Content Platform Collaboration Expansion (March-April 2025): Story Protocol is already piloting collaborations with some independent content creation platforms to support on-chain recording of IP metadata, ownership information, and authorization terms.

➤ Online Hackathon (February 2025): The first hackathon was held with the theme 'On-chain IP Creation Tools'. Community feedback was positive, and some interesting prototypes were born, such as mixed creation platforms and on-chain authorization tools.


🎯 In Conclusion:

Story Protocol focuses on bringing IP on-chain. From the creator's perspective, it helps you manage creation ownership, authorization collaboration, and income distribution in one stop; from the platform's perspective, it provides a relatively complete API that can be directly integrated into content platforms for hosting and commercialization.

Although there is considerable potential in this direction, practical implementation relies heavily on ecosystem collaboration. Currently, Story Protocol's progress seems good, with a technical approach that is more foundational and standardized, aligning well with a long-term development path.

I personally believe if it can truly standardize content assets and manage them on-chain, the future of content collaboration may indeed become more open. However, how mature the market is, and whether the authorization and value capture mechanisms are sufficiently clear, will depend on its future performance.

#KaitoAI #Yap