Intellectual property (IP) is becoming one of blockchain’s most practical frontiers, not just as digital art but as programmable infrastructure that connects AI, gaming, and creative rights. BeInCrypto spoke with Andrea Muttoni, President and Chief Product Officer of Story, an on-chain IP platform building rails for global license and royalty automation.
In this interview, Muttoni explains why the introduction comes as a cultural moment rather than a technological milestone, how the $IP token connects value with creative activity, and what legal interoperability means for the next decade of digital rights.
The rise of programmable IP and the architecture behind it
Story Protocol, which operates Story Network, was founded in February 2025 and aims to become the “IP layer of the internet.”
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After raising $54 million in 2023 and another $80 million in 2024, the team led by a16z launched a purpose-built layer 1 blockchain. This enables royalty modules for IP assets (tokenized copyrighted works), programmable IP licenses (PILs), and real-time on-chain revenue sharing.
“We built Story to make intellectual property programmable in a variety of media,” says Muttoni. “Whether it’s AI-generated data, virtual assets, or film IP, creators need to have a transparent way to license and monetize their work.”
Proponents see this architecture as the foundation for provenance transparency and composable licensing. Critics question whether smart contract licenses can hold up in court without legal approval.
Evolving inflection points for on-chain IP
With over $80 trillion in creative assets worldwide, on-chain IP is emerging as a market layer connecting creators, enterprises, and AI platforms. Story already hosts over 200 teams and over 20 million IP registrations across entertainment, gaming, and data applications.
“Intellectual property continues to evolve, so there is no single inflection point for on-chain IP,” Muttoni said. “We built a Story that evolves in parallel, integrating AI, gaming, and Hollywood, so creators can directly track and license their work.”
“The real inflection point may not be the raw numbers, but the cultural moment when remixing BTS art became a game, with automatic revenue sharing through stories,” he added. “When millions of people are using on-chain IP without knowing it’s Web3, that’s when change is happening.”
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This view is consistent with WIPO’s 2024 World Intellectual Property Report, which notes that global intellectual property capacity remains concentrated in fewer than 10 economies. It added that the digital IP market still relies on institutional rather than technological integration. The inflection point for tokenized IP is likely to depend as much on policy harmonization as product adoption.
New loyalty rail on efficiency and stories
Traditional royalty systems like ASCAP pay creators quarterly through an intermediary. Story aims to modernize that process.
“Right now, royalties flow through opaque intermediaries and take months to reach creators,” he says. “With Story, programmable royalties are settled in seconds instead of months and moved around the world frictionlessly, which is transformational for independent artists and emerging markets.”
However, as the IMF’s 2025 Fintech Note warns, real-time tokenized payments could increase systemic risk if oversight and liquidity buffers are delayed. Instant payments are powerful, but without safeguards, they can exceed regulations. Story’s long-term success may depend on its integration with regulated financial rails.
Incentives and integration across the IP economy
“Our current IP system is broken,” Muttoni said. “As creators and businesses battle AI companies, what is needed is a technology-native framework that allows IP to be freely licensed and protected at scale. Story provides rights rails that allow organizations to integrate rather than compete.”
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Legal battles between AI developers and rights holders reveal the structural gap in which the internet has outpaced the infrastructure that protects creative works. The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Tokenization Report notes that these markets will evolve “non-linearly and incrementally.” Deployments typically begin within a permitted, regulated environment rather than an open network. Therefore, the “legal interoperability” that Story advocates is likely to require a gradual rollout aligned with data privacy and jurisdictional standards.
Simplify UX and retain creators
“Licensing and copyright management has long been limited to studios with lawyers,” Muttoni said. “Through our IP portal, anyone can register their IP on-chain in minutes. There are no lawyers, no intermediaries, and no platform fees. Our goal is to make licensing intuitive rather than bureaucratic.”
Still, the U.S. Patent and Copyright Office’s 2024 Report to Congress emphasizes that blockchain transfers do not change intellectual property law. Copyright and trademark assignments still require a signed written contract. For now, Story’s on-chain licenses serve as a metadata layer rather than a binding instrument until the enforceability of smart contracts is codified.
Recursion and story token governance
“Reflexivity is normal in the crypto market,” Muttoni said. “However, IP registered in Stories is tied to real-world use cases. The $IP token powers licensing, staking, and governance. It is a productive asset tied to creative activity rather than speculation.”
CFA Institute’s 2024 analysis offers a more modest view. Tokenization has the potential to unlock new asset classes, but faces valuation opacity and custody risks. Institutional investors argue that they will treat IP tokens as an evolution of infrastructure rather than a speculative play, a stance that could temper the hype surrounding Story’s $IP token.
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Data as market signals
As AI’s need for rights-cleared data increases, new metrics such as license volume, royalty accrual velocity, and provenance velocity may define the value of IP.
“Some of the most valuable intellectual property will be assets licensed for AI training,” Muttoni said. “The bottleneck in AI is not compute, but rights-cleared data. Story’s project, Poseidon, enables anyone to license real-world data as IP, creating measurable value between data providers, AI developers, and users.”
This echoes comments from Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, head of product and research at Grayscale, who described Story as “linking blockchain tuning to AI model training.” She pointed out that Poseidon’s model can turn everyday human activities into tokenized, rights-cleared data for machine learning. Her remarks demonstrate how programmable IP brings together the creative economy and AI development within one infrastructure.
The overlap between intellectual property and AI highlights broader policy debates. The WIPO 2024 report states that innovation thrives when law, research and commerce evolve together. Story’s long-term success may depend less on how the token works and more on whether global IP governance keeps pace with the technology.
conclusion
Programmable IP is moving from concept to infrastructure. Story sits at the intersection of culture and code because it combines automation, governance, and interoperability. However, as WIPO, IMF, WEF, CFA, and U.S. Copyright Office reports highlight, progress will be gradual and compliance-driven. If successful, the story could redefine how creative rights move through the global economy. If not, it may remain a prototype awaiting regulatory adjustments.
