Story (IP) - a new protocol for efficient intellectual property management

What is Story Protocol?

Story Protocol is a Layer-1 blockchain that manages intellectual property (IP). With the Story Protocol blockchain, project developers have automated the licensing and transfer of intellectual property rights using digital assets (tokens).

A Story Protocol test network (testnet) called Iliad was launched in August 2024, and the leading Story Protocol network (main net) was launched in February 2025.

How does Story Protocol work, and what problems does it solve?

The project authors believe that current intellectual property management systems are outdated. Registering intellectual property rights involves paperwork, which makes the procedure expensive and protracted. In addition, it is often tough to register intellectual property rights without specialists.

Story Protocol is based on a blockchain infrastructure designed to protect intellectual property and create it without regulatory approvals, making registering rights much easier, faster, and cheaper. Authors can track and control the use of their content using the blockchain, receiving rewards for their content directly in the form of Story Protocol tokens.

The main components of the Story Protocol blockchain network are so-called IP assets and IP accounts, which are a modification of ERC-6551, an updated standard for issuing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain and EVM-compliant networks. The ERC-6551 standard introduces a new type of account: Token-Bound Accounts (TBAs).

Token Bound Accounts are similar to smart accounts, which were introduced into the Ethereum blockchain with the EIP-4337 standard. In this way, wallets could utilize the functions of smart contracts. This, in turn, allowed them to delegate assets to third parties and transfer ownership of the account to them.

IP assets are programmable IP, a new model of IP management in which rights, licensing terms, and reward rules are initially fixed using a smart contract. The Story Protocol smart contract then simply enforces the terms programmed into it when the copyrighted content is used in the future.

Note: In this context, the abbreviation IP stands for intellectual property and has nothing to do with device identifiers on a computer network (IP addresses).

With Story Protocol smart contracts, authors can determine who will use their content and how, including licensing, revenue sharing, and usage rules.

An example of how Story Protocol works: let's say a specialist creates a dataset to train AI models. If any company uses this dataset, the specialist will be paid for it. If the AI models trained on this dataset are then used in an application that makes a profit for the company, then a share of the revenue will also go to the creator.

The second component of the Story Protocol, Token Bound Accounts, is an accounting standard that significantly expands the functionality for using NFT tokens.

Essentially, the ERC-6551 standard allows each NFT to be turned into a separate smart contract that:

Stores other tokens;
Interacts with DeFi applications (DApps);
Performs transactions on the blockchain network.

IP token

Story (IP) is a native Story Protocol token used for all transactions on its blockchain and is based on the standard used in the decentralized Ethereum platform. The token's name is also derived from the abbreviated expression "intellectual property."

The main functions of the IP token are:

Payment of Story Protocol network commissions;
Payment of rewards to content authors;
Payments for the use of intellectual property rights;
Payments for intellectual property registration and licensing of IP assets;
Participation in the management of the Story Protocol ecosystem.

The IP token was listed on the exchanges on the launch day of the core network in February 2025, with a listing price of $2.61. Since then, the price of the Story token has declined 18% to $1.87, with a market capitalization of $487 million. According to CoinMarketCap, the IP token is the 123rd overall digital asset.

Initially, 250 million IP tokens were issued, 25% of the total number of tokens. At the same time, 10% of the total number of Story tokens was allocated to the airdrop community, whose members participated in Story Protocol testing before the launch of the main network and were active. The IP token has no maximum issuance, making it an inflationary asset.