Story 'IP' that captivated US institutional investors worth ₩50 trillion, listed on Upbit

Corporate value of ₩3 trillion… a16z secured investment for three consecutive rounds

Included in Grayscale, global digital asset management firm

Story-based 'Poseidon' raises $15 million

The blockchain intellectual property (IP) infrastructure project Story ($IP) announced on the 8th that it has been listed on Upbit, South Korea's largest virtual asset exchange. Story, which has caught the attention of major foreign media and institutional investors such as Bloomberg and Grayscale, is now expected to jumpstart Web3-based content innovation in the Korean market.

Story is a global IP blockchain project designed by Seungyoon Lee, an Oxford University graduate and founder of the US web novel platform Radish, who successfully sold Radish to Kakao for ₩500 billion. Its goal is to revolutionize the global IP market, valued at about ₩80 trillion, through blockchain infrastructure.

At the early investment stage, Story was valued at about ₩3 trillion, attracting a cumulative investment of approximately ₩190 billion from Samsung Next, a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), Polychain Capital, Hashed, Mirana Ventures, and others. Notably, a16z, the largest US venture capital firm, led three consecutive investment rounds, which is described as a rare case.

It is also evaluated that Story has laid the foundation for the influx of traditional finance funds such as US accredited investors and institutions. Sriram Krishnan, formerly of a16z and a lead investor in Story, was appointed as Chief Policy Advisor for AI in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in December last year, while Brian Quintenz was nominated as the next commissioner of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In addition, the $IP token was included, as of the 31st of last month, in the single-asset trust product lineup of Grayscale, a global digital asset management firm.

Recently, Story announced its 'Story 2.0' vision and introduced the decentralized infrastructure project 'Poseidon' for AI training data. Poseidon attracted a total investment of $15 million in a seed round led by a16z Crypto. By adopting a blockchain-based IP graph structure that automates data registration, contribution tracking, and reward distribution, it has solved the data bottleneck problem in the traditional AI industry.

Furthermore, Story is innovating IP-based monetization models by collaborating with various global partners. Through the ecosystem project Aria Protocol, Story has completed the acquisition and tokenization of partial IP copyrights from top domestic and international artists such as BTS, Justin Bieber, BLACKPINK, aespa, and Maroon 5. It is also collaborating with Stability AI, the world's largest open-source AI company, AI design platform Ablo, casual shoe brand Crocs, French luxury brand Balmain, and others.

Andrea Muttoni, Chairperson of the Story Foundation, said, "With this Upbit listing, Story will help Korea’s outstanding cultural assets—now gaining attention as K-content—become even more competitive and liquid in the global IP market," and added, "We will strive to establish Story as a leading global project in the field of IP blockchain."

Meanwhile, the $IP token serves as a key asset in the Story ecosystem, playing important roles such as network security, paying transaction (gas) fees, and participating in governance. Previously, it has also been listed on domestic exchanges Bithumb and Coinone, as well as overseas exchanges like Coinbase, OKX, Bybit, and KuCoin.