"If AI creates works, blockchain will activate transactions and contracts"

Investment strategies in the AI and digital asset era

"Blockchain will guarantee ownership and reliability

and become the foundation for AI to generate revenue"

"Artificial intelligence (AI) and the blockchain industry are still in their early stages, but they will enter an explosive growth phase within five years."

Amy Oldenburg, Head of Emerging Markets Equities at Morgan Stanley, said this on the 23rd at the 'Origin Summit 2025' held in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. She predicted that "blockchain and cryptocurrencies will act as a catalyst to help the spread of AI."

The overarching theme of the full-day session was the relationship between AI and blockchain technology. The argument was that if AI produces vast amounts of data and creative works, blockchain will guarantee their ownership and reliability. Because blockchain technology can automatically handle transactions and contracts, it provides the necessary foundation for AI to actually enter economic activities.

In this context, investment experts forecast that the fields of data and intellectual property (IP) infrastructure will emerge as major investment areas. Andrea Mutoni, Chief Product Officer (CPO) of Story Protocol, emphasized the importance of data. He said, "If you repeatedly use only synthetic data generated by AI based on real-world data, biases and errors will worsen and result in outcomes detached from reality. Securing and verifying reliable data is the key for AI to evolve into solutions usable in everyday life." The need for on-chain verification infrastructure using blockchain was also raised. On-chain verification is a method that transparently records data provenance and usage history on the blockchain to guarantee reliability. Experts explained that "on-chain activity metrics such as wallets and transactions can be a core criterion to confirm product-market fit."

In the AI era, where creative works will flood the market, infrastructure that can trade and monetize IP is expected to gain attention. Reyhaneh Sharif Askari, Managing Director at Grayscale Investments, said, "Tokenized IP has the potential to open a market of up to $80 trillion," and added that "new added value will be created in areas connected to fandom, such as music royalties or game and fashion content." In this regard, Story Protocol, which tokenizes and trades music, game, and fashion content on the blockchain, and Roblox, which connects global creators, were mentioned as related examples.

Reporter Dae-eun Choi max@hankyung.com