The only Layer-1 blockchain that has received three consecutive rounds of investment led by a16z is addressing significant challenges faced by AI.
On February 4, The Block released a thirty-page report titled “Story: Transforming Intellectual Property into Currency for AI”, which provides an in-depth analysis of Story, a Layer 1 blockchain specifically designed to fundamentally reshape intellectual property (IP) in the AI era.
Key Insights from The Block Report
Unprecedented Bet by a16z on Story
The vision of Story has garnered widespread trust from investors. Notably, Story is the only blockchain project that has been led by a16z Crypto in three consecutive funding rounds. Such a "three-peat" investment is extremely rare across all industries, and our research indicates that this is unprecedented among blockchain projects. This support underscores the importance of IP as a key asset class and demonstrates Story's immense potential in reshaping the future AI economy.
Chris Dixon, a general partner at the largest venture capital firm in the U.S., a16z, reiterated this vision in a recent interview. When asked about the most exciting projects in this crypto cycle, Dixon specifically mentioned Story, stating, “Story is a project I’m personally involved in, and it has established a global legal standard for copyright licensing within the AI ecosystem.” He emphasized that Story is poised to become the global copyright registration and licensing platform for industries such as film, art, literature, and music. Click here to watch the full interview.
Silicon Valley Roots and the Birth of "L1 Valley"
Founded in Silicon Valley and headquartered in Palo Alto, Story is located in the heart of the emerging innovation hub known as "L1 Valley." This center is close to Stanford University and near Aptos and Sui, which are core gathering places for global Layer 1 blockchain technology talent. This strategic location further solidifies Story's leadership in the integration of AI and blockchain technology.
Intellectual Property: The World’s Largest Intangible Asset Class
As generative artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes various industries, intellectual property is increasingly becoming a significant driver of rapid AI development. According to the Global Intangible Asset Financial Tracking Report (GIFT) released by Brand Finance in 2023, the total value of intellectual property across technology, finance, scientific research, and other fields has exceeded $61.9 trillion. However, traditional IP systems are generally inefficient, and many stakeholders face significant challenges regarding ownership and monetization.
Story aims to address this issue by putting IP on the blockchain, transforming intangible assets into programmable tools that drive revenue generation from AI training, inference, and other emerging demands. As one of the first blockchain projects to collaborate with major AI companies like Stability AI (the developer of Stable Diffusion), Story is demonstrating how to achieve seamless integration of on-chain IP with AI systems.
Story: The "Nvidia" of IP
Just as Nvidia provides the computational layer for AI, Story is building its own IP layer—this key cornerstone accelerates AI development. Currently, the AI race revolves around model architecture, compute power, and data/IP. Open-source models are rapidly catching up to proprietary models from companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind, intensifying competition and commercialization trends. In the compute power sector, both nations and private enterprises are increasing investments, expanding data centers, and reducing costs. However, the most competitive and valuable areas are data and IP. As web data scraping approaches saturation, truly differentiated and high-quality IP is becoming the decisive factor for the success or failure of AI models. Data is the "fuel" for AI, and due to its scarcity, IP is gradually becoming a means of value storage and a core asset driving the future development of AI.
Just as Nvidia revolutionized AI compute power, Story positions itself as the "Nvidia of IP." Nvidia solved the compute bottleneck for AI, while Story addresses the next critical issue: how to effectively acquire and manage high-quality IP and data. By establishing a decentralized, on-chain stored, tokenized IP asset library, Story is building the infrastructure for data rights confirmation and provenance verification in the AI economy, which is an indispensable part of the AI value chain.
Without structured access to high-quality IP, even the most advanced AI models struggle to remain competitive. The blockchain-based Story registry ensures that IP assets can be discovered, verified, and monetized, providing a new opportunity for global IP owners.
Jason Zhao Discusses Story's Impact on The Scoop Podcast
The timing of The Block's report coincided with Story co-founder Jason Zhao's appearance on the well-known U.S. blockchain podcast, The Scoop, hosted by Frank Chaparro. In the episode titled “Jason Zhao from Story Discusses How AI Will Disrupt the $60 Trillion IP Industry,” Jason Zhao elaborated on Story's vision, its unique positioning in the AI and blockchain space, and the profound significance of a16z's three rounds of investment.
Jason Zhao pointed out that in the AI era, the value of IP is continuously increasing, as AI model training and real-time analysis rely on vast databases. With the blockchain-based Story registry, IP can finally be transformed into high-liquidity, programmable, and revenue-generating assets, benefiting creators as well as institutions and investors.
Click here to watch the full episode.
A New Era for IP
The Block's report further highlights Story's position as one of the most promising Layer 1 crypto projects in this crypto cycle. With the rapid development of AI, Story provides the infrastructure to ensure that IP holders—not just large enterprises—can actively participate and benefit from AI's growth.
Story is a purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain designed to transform IP into programmable digital assets. By empowering IP holders to tokenize, protect, share, and monetize their creations, Story lays a solid foundation for AI-driven innovation and decentralized collaboration. As a core force driving IP to become a key asset class, Story bridges the gap between blockchain technology and the AI economy.
For more information, please visit https://www.story.foundation/
For detailed information, please read The Block's full report: THEBLOCK.CO - Story: Transforming Intellectual Property into Currency for AI.pdf
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