Story, a web intellectual property protocol, has announced that its mainnet and native token, IP, will launch on February 13. This will let content creators safeguard their digital property and make money from their work. Story posted on X (formerly Twitter) on February 11th, announcing its impending mainnet launch. Its native coin will start with an initial staking period known as ‘Singularity’. This token will be utilized for transactions, governance votes, and creator payments. One billion IP tokens will be available in total and after the staking period, awards will begin to be given out on March 2.
“Marks a major milestone in bringing decentralized IP ownership to the world,” says a post on the protocol’s forum about the mainnet debut.
The Vision Of Story Protocol
Through the provision of an open market for intellectual property, Story seeks to make IP programmability allowing content owners to register their work and subsequently program it with the terms and fees necessary for others to utilize it. Although the fees are paid in cryptocurrency, IP rights holders and creators may receive payment in their local currency.
The blockchain will allow creators to directly register their work, automate income sharing and licensing, receive payment without the need for intermediaries, and safeguard their creations from unauthorized usage. Jason Zhao, a former product manager at Google DeepMind, established Story in 2022 after noticing that AI was remixing content without giving artists credit.
Zhao stated that they had those amazing creative tools, referring to AI, but added that there was no sustainable business model if someone was an IP holder, a program, or an individual creator.
Story Protocol said on February 7 that in the age of AI, IP would play a critical role in tokenizing the $61 trillion IP asset class. The protocol is currently being used by more than 50 applications, such as Magma, which has 2.5 million users and enables groups to work together on digital creative projects at the same time.
Story Protocol introduced an experimental framework for AI agents to interact onchain in December, capitalizing on the newest popular AI tale, agentic AI. The project claimed at the time that its ACTP/IP developed a way to securely handle IP, enabling autonomous communication amongst AI agents in which the bots receive payment for exchanging data.
Prominent venture capital organizations such as Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Hashed, and Samsung Next support Story Protocol.
Building The Future With Story’s L1 Blockchain
Story Protocol functions as a purpose-built, Turing-complete L1 blockchain that sits between IP and AI. A new digital marketplace for one of the most valuable asset classes in the world is introduced by Story by making IP programmable. Story Protocol’s concept revolves around the $IP token, which fulfills several essential purposes, such as:
- Network Security: In order to safeguard the blockchain, users can stake $IP tokens.
- Gas Token: $IP powers transactions on Story Protocol.
- Governance: $IP holders have the ability to influence the ecosystem’s destiny by taking part in the decision-making process.
Every transaction also burns $IP, which could lead to a deflationary token economy in some circumstances.
Breakdown Of $IP Token Distribution
The initial supply of Story Protocol is set at 1 billion $IP tokens, with an unlocked supply of 25%. The distribution is as follows:
- 38.4% is allocated to the Ecosystem and Community
- 10% is reserved for initial incentives.
- 10% is reserved for the Foundation.
- 21.6% is reserved for early backers.
- 20% is reserved for core contributors.
Story Protocol is dedicated to structuring the future of programmable IP. The community will get access to an initial claim on the first day of the Story Protocol mainnet launch.
The goal of the initial incentives program is to reward real users. Story Protocol is standing firmly against airdrop farmers and Sybils. Only legitimate users will be able to take advantage of the project’s benefits. The ecosystem’s integrity will be maintained by blocking any attempts to manipulate the system.
The programmable IP future is now closer than ever thanks to the introduction of $IP and Story’s L1 blockchain. More chances for global innovators, developers, and creators will present themselves as the ecosystem expands.