STAT Attracts Strategic Investment from Story Protocol (IP), Backed by a16z and Grayscale

Two large-scale STAT token-based services to launch this year

Targeting both B2B and B2C demand

"Will lead the IP-ization of global financial information content"

"More than half of the investment funds will be used for STAT buyback"

The virtual asset (cryptocurrency) utility token STAT has announced on the 30th that it has secured a strategic investment from the blockchain-based intellectual property (IP) platform Story protocol (IP).

STAT is a company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and social trading-based technologies to provide investment information content and data for virtual asset investors and foundations. STAT, together with BloomingBit, the virtual asset affiliate of Korea's largest economic media group, Hankyung Media Group, which boasts 14 million digital subscribers, offers content, data, and marketing solutions to both individual and institutional investors. Major partners include institutions such as World, Hashed, and Presto Labs.

Story protocol is establishing itself as a leading infrastructure in the global IP market, which is valued at $61 trillion (approximately ₩8,888.7 trillion), as a blockchain-based platform. Through its Aria protocol, it has recently secured the IPs of global artists such as BTS, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, BLACKPINK, Maroon 5, Miley Cyrus, and aespa. Story has received three consecutive lead investments from the largest US venture capital firm, a16z, and has been recognized with a valuation of around ₩3 trillion. Grayscale, the largest virtual asset manager in the US, also drew attention by naming STAT as one of its Top 20 coins in the second quarter of this year.

More than half of the funds raised in this investment will be used for STAT token buybacks, with the remainder allocated for new product development, among other uses.

Together with Hankyung BloomingBit, STAT has been developing products on Story protocol since March, collaborating closely with Story. Within the Story protocol ecosystem, STAT connects investment information and content, aiming to lead the IP-ization of global financial information content. The STAT token, launched on the Story blockchain, serves as an access token for 'continuous subscription to knowledge,' pointing toward a new direction in 'monetizing financial information content IP.'

On the 30th, STAT and BloomingBit will launch the 'Share to Earn (STE)' service on the Story blockchain. STE is a system where users are rewarded (Earn) for sharing (Share) information content. Depending on sharing performance, users receive increasing rewards; the token rewards are funded by tokens that each foundation pays as marketing costs or STAT bought on the market.

STAT and BloomingBit will also launch an institutional-investor-exclusive platform, 'Bloomingbit Alpha', this year. To access the exclusive financial information content provided jointly by STAT and BloomingBit, users will be required to purchase and hold STAT tokens and participate in lock-up services.

Joo-Hwan Park, co-CEO of STAT, stated, "Two significant services that will drive real demand for the STAT token will launch this year. One is 'Share to Earn (STE)' for B2C (business-to-consumer), and the other is 'Bloomingbit Alpha' for B2B (business-to-business). We are very pleased to launch such major services in partnership with Story."

San-Ha Kim, CEO of Hankyung BloomingBit, commented, "Congratulations to STAT, one of BloomingBit's key partners, for securing strategic investment. I expect that the collaboration among Story, STAT, and BloomingBit will pioneer a new market by IP-izing global financial information content and create new demand for the Story ecosystem."

Andrea Muttoni, chairman of the Story Foundation, said, "STAT's integration with the Story blockchain embodies our vision for the financialization of IP. By tokenizing ever-updating investment knowledge on Story, STAT is going beyond simply monetizing content and is creating an entirely new class of IP assets in the global financial market."