On February 4, The Block published a 30-page report titled “Story: Turning Intellectual Property into Currency for AI,” which provides an in-depth analysis of Story, a Layer 1 blockchain built specifically to completely reshape intellectual property (IP) in the AI era.

Key insights from The Block report

a16z makes an unprecedented bet on Story

Story’s vision has won widespread trust from investors. Notably, Story is the only blockchain project that a16z Crypto has led in three consecutive rounds. Across all industries, a16z’s “three-round investment” is extremely rare, and our research shows that this is unprecedented in blockchain projects. This support highlights the importance of IP as a key asset class and demonstrates Story’s great potential in reshaping the future AI economy.

Chris Dixon, general partner of a16z, the largest venture capital firm in the United States, reiterated this vision in a recent interview. When asked about the most exciting project in this round of crypto cycle, Dixon specifically mentioned Story and said: "Story is a project I am personally involved in, and it has established a global legal standard for copyright licensing within the AI ecosystem." He emphasized that Story is expected to become a 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”

Story was founded in Silicon Valley and is headquartered in Palo Alto, in the heart of the emerging innovation center "L1 Valley". The center is close to Stanford University and is adjacent to Aptos and Sui, which is a core gathering place for global Layer 1 blockchain technology talents. This strategic location further consolidates Story's leadership in the integration of AI and blockchain technology.

Intellectual property: the world's largest intangible asset category

As generative artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes various industries, intellectual property is gradually becoming an important driving force for the rapid development of AI. According to the Global Intangible Asset Finance Tracker (GIFT) released by Brand Finance in 2023, the total value of intellectual property in multiple fields such as technology, finance, and scientific research has exceeded US$61.9 trillion. However, the traditional IP system is generally inefficient, and many stakeholders face difficulties in ownership and monetization.

Story is committed to solving this problem by putting IP on the chain, turning intangible assets into programmable tools, and driving revenue from AI training, reasoning, and other emerging needs. As one of the first blockchain projects to work with large AI companies such as Stability AI (the developer of Stable Diffusion), Story is demonstrating how to achieve seamless integration of on-chain IP and AI systems.

Story: The "NVIDIA" of IP

Just as Nvidia provides a computing layer for AI, Story is building its own IP layer - a key cornerstone for accelerating the development of AI. Currently, the AI competition is centered around model architecture, computing power, and data/IP. Open source models are rapidly catching up with proprietary models from companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind, and competition and commoditization trends are also intensifying. In the field of computing power, the state and private enterprises have increased investment, expanded data centers, and reduced costs. However, the most competitive and valuable areas are data and IP. As the crawling of network data has reached saturation, truly differentiated and high-quality IP is becoming a decisive factor in the success or failure of AI models. Data is the "fuel" of AI, and IP, due to its scarcity, has gradually become a means of storing value and a core asset that will drive the future development of AI.

Just as NVIDIA revolutionized AI computing power, Story is positioning itself as the "NVIDIA of IP". NVIDIA solved the computing bottleneck of AI, while Story solved the next key problem: 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 an infrastructure for data rights confirmation and traceability verification in the AI economy, which is also an indispensable link in the AI value chain.

Without structured, high-quality IP access, even the most advanced AI models will find it difficult to remain competitive. The blockchain-based Story registry ensures that IP assets can be discovered, verified, and monetized, providing new opportunities for IP owners around the world.

Jason Zhao discusses the impact of Story on The Scoop podcast

The timing of The Block's report coincides with Story co-founder Jason Zhao's appearance on the well-known American blockchain podcast The Scoop , hosted by Frank Chaparro. In the episode titled "Jason Zhao from Story on How AI is Disrupting the $60 Trillion IP Industry," Jason Zhao elaborated on Story's vision, its unique positioning in the field of AI and blockchain, and the far-reaching significance of a16z's third round of investment.

Jason Zhao pointed out that in the AI era, the value of IP is increasing, because the training and real-time analysis of AI models rely on huge databases. With the blockchain-based Story registry, IP can finally be transformed into a highly liquid, programmable, and revenue-generating asset that benefits creators, institutions, and investors.

Click here to watch the full show.

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 round of crypto cycle. As AI develops rapidly, Story provides the infrastructure to ensure that IP holders - not just large enterprises - can actively participate in and benefit from the growth of AI.

Story is a purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain designed to transform IP into programmable digital assets. By enabling IP holders to tokenize, protect, share, and monetize their creativity, Story lays a solid foundation for AI-driven innovation and decentralized collaboration. As a core force in driving IP to become a key asset class, Story builds a bridge between blockchain technology and the AI economy. For more information, please visit https://www.story.foundation/

For more information, please read The Block’s full report: THEBLOCK.CO - Story: Turning Intellectual Property into Currency for AI.pdf