AI-native infrastructure and programmable IP blockchain Story announced a joint launch of a $360 million $IP token digital asset reserve plan with Nasdaq-listed Heritage Distilling Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: CASK). The transaction is supported by Story Foundation and several top investment institutions including a16z crypto, Amber Group, Arrington Capital, dao5, and Hashed.
The market believes that this transaction is highly similar to the case of BitMine (NASDAQ: BMNR), which saw its stock price soar 30 times within days after announcing its Ethereum digital asset reserve (DAT) strategy. It is particularly noteworthy that this is a16z's first involvement in the digital asset strategy allocation of a publicly listed company, and it is the case with the lowest market capitalization among Nasdaq-listed companies to introduce a digital asset strategy reserve, indicating vast potential value space in the future.
To support this token reserve plan, Heritage will invest $82 million to purchase tokens from Story Foundation, which will use this amount to fully repurchase $IP in the secondary market within 90 days.
$IP is the native token of Story, allowing users to register intellectual property on-chain and flexibly set usage terms through smart contracts, facilitating convenient trading and monetization of IP between humans and AI agents. The Story ecosystem has already driven the tokenization of hundreds of thousands of digital assets through applications such as Aria and Ablo, and has collaborated with globally renowned artists like Justin Bieber, BTS, BLACKPINK, Adidas, and Crocs to continuously expand the application boundaries of IP.
In 2024, Story, in collaboration with Stability AI, will introduce transparent authorization and compensation tracking to support open-source AI model training; in the third quarter of 2025, Grayscale Investments will launch the Story Trust to provide regulated investment channels for institutional investors in $IP; the Poseidon incubation project launched in July will further expand the field of decentralized training data to support AI scenarios such as robotics, AR/VR, and autonomous systems. This project has secured $15 million in seed funding led by a16z.
Seung Yoon Lee, CEO of PIP Labs and Founder of Story, stated: "This is a golden moment for innovation in cryptocurrency, AI, and the tokenization of real assets. With the rise of AI, we believe that $IP will become the new ‘digital gold’ with immense value potential. Story Foundation will use all proceeds from this token sale to expand the network scale and conduct market buybacks, ensuring the long-term consistency of the ecosystem." The launch of this reserve plan is also a disruptive innovation after S.Y. Lee successfully sold the U.S. web novel platform Radish to Kakao for 500 billion KRW.
Justin Stiefel, CEO of Heritage, pointed out: "This transaction is a breakthrough for Heritage and the digital asset strategy of the entire publicly listed company. We have been industry pioneers for over a decade, deeply aware of the unique value of intellectual property, and view $IP as a new strategic reserve asset leading growth in the future AI era."
This strategic transaction is supported by several senior experts in the fields of cryptocurrency and technology, who will continue to provide professional guidance for Heritage's strategic development. The core team includes:
SY Lee (Founder and CEO of PIP Labs, Founder of Story)
Phil Blows (Co-founder of AQRU and B2 Capital Management, Candidate for Chief Investment Officer)
Ben Sternberg (CFO of PIP Labs, former CFO of Radish, Founder of Fexy Media)
David Lee (Former Google executive, former Chief Corporate Development Officer of 451 Media)
Erick Zhang (Founding Partner at Nomad Capital, former Head of Research at Binance and CEO of CoinMarketCap)
Ravi Kaza (CIO of Arrington Capital, Special Advisor to the Board)
Matt Shaw, a board member of Story Foundation, stated: "The mission of Story is to make intellectual property an investable and programmable asset. This reserve plan reflects our ability to scale. Through this structure, public market investors can easily invest in $IP through equity investments without managing digital wallets. Story Foundation plans to use 100% of the net cash from this transaction for public market buybacks, demonstrating responsible governance and deep collaboration, while bringing a leading advantage in the digital asset space to Heritage."
