US investment bank forecasts sharp upside for Story coin 'IP'… "'IPST' headed for $8"

US IB rates Story DAT firm 'IPST' a 'Buy'

"Significantly undervalued"… sets target price at $8.2

"Story to emerge as core infrastructure in the AI era"

"IPST, the most effective 'indirect way to invest' in Story"

Ross MKM said in a recent report that "as Story is expected to emerge as core infrastructure in the AI era, IP Strategy is the most effective 'indirect investment' vehicle to gain exposure."

The report said Story can convert intangible assets such as content, data and code into 'programmable assets' and process transactions via smart contracts, dramatically reducing inefficient manual contracting and dispute costs in the existing IP market. It added that, as generative AI spreads and copyright issues around training data and models surface, Story could serve as a 'defensive infrastructure' to address them.

It also highlighted that IP Strategy is creating differentiated value beyond simply holding digital assets, through 'validator operations.' IP Strategy directly runs validation nodes on the Story network and has a structure that simultaneously collects more than 11% a year in staking rewards and around 5% in delegation fees. The report noted that "annual operating costs are only about $400,000–$500,000, enabling a high-margin business like a software company," describing it as "a dual value-creation model that captures both asset appreciation and operating income."

It also assessed the stock as attractive on valuation. The report pointed out that despite IP Strategy holding a large amount of IP tokens (53.2 million, worth about KRW 167 billion), its market-cap-to-NAV ratio (mNAV) is only about 0.15x. This, it said, represents excessive undervaluation versus the median (0.80x) for peers running digital-asset (cryptocurrency) treasury (DAT) businesses. Ross MKM said it calculated the target price by considering the future value of the validator business and the industry-average multiple.

The tokenomics of the IP token are also expected to be supportive for IP Strategy shares. IP tokens are used as fees for IP registration or license transactions on the network; part of the fees are burned and part is paid to validators. As transaction volume rises, token burns reduce supply. The report projected that "if core partners such as major AI model companies or media companies join the ecosystem and usage surges, a 'flywheel' effect will emerge, with token demand and value rising together."

However, risks remain. The report noted that since the success of the Story protocol ultimately depends on expanding real-world usage, growth momentum could weaken if onboarding major partners is delayed. It also said token unlocks released sequentially through 2029 could weigh on near-term supply-demand dynamics. Changes in the regulatory environment for digital assets were also cited as a variable that could affect investor sentiment.