Why is Story (IP) Rising While the Rest of the Market Tumbles?

In previous weeks we’ve looked at memecoins, the risk, perils, occasional big winner – but ultimately, they’re not what drives long-term change and adoption of crypto.

Quality crypto projects, with real-world potential and what drives the markets each cycle to their blow-off-top, FOMO-induced peaks. And as promised we’re going to start to look at more and more of these in the comping weeks.

The good news is that many will be at a discount to where they were last week!

When there’s fear in the market, and prices are falling, there are often a few shining lights that catch your eye.

As Bitcoin headed under $90,000 and it was a sea of red across the board, with hundreds of billions wiped off the crypto market, there was one shining light in particular that was in the green and ripping higher.

As of early trading Wednesday Story (IP) was up 16% in a 24-hour period.

Even better is that for the week its price is up nearly 170%!

Is this a crypto that you should now be considering? Or is a correction in price imminent adjusting to the wider market sell off?

What is Story and Can it’s Price Continue to Surge?

Story (IP) is the token of Story Protocol. This is a new Layer 1 blockchain designed to tokenise intellectual property (IP).

The concept itself isn’t new, and it does seem that every cycle there are a few key themes that we see novel approaches for using blockchain technology.

Things like decentralised storage, data, compute, communications and the tokenisation of real-world assets (RWAs). The idea of using a public, open source blockchain for these things is in principle a good idea.

The tricky part is getting that level of user adoption, acceptance and utility of the network to prove that it’s better than current systems and networks.

That’s always been the challenge for ‘utility’ crypto with a practical real-world purpose. And for Story Protocol, it’s no different.

However, it is what I’d classify as one of the most promising projects for this cycle, at least in their approach to the decentralisation and innovation around IP.

The idea is that creators of IP can register, manage, and monetise their IP. Maybe it’s a piece of art, music, written word, or even AI-assisted generative content. It could even be RWAs brought ‘onchain’.[1] The whole point is the creator retains control, can extract value and provides full transparency.

The protocol allows for creators to use smart contracts to define how their IP is used, on what terms, licensing and royalty structures, and an easier approach to traditional IP management. Their ‘Proof of Creativity’ protocol ensures transparent royalty distribution, also making IP assets tradable and carry longer term value.

The IP token is used for transaction fees, staking to secure the network, and governance within the Story protocol. It has a total supply of 1 billion tokens, with 250 million currently in circulation, supporting ecosystem functions like royalty payments and licensing fees.

With a market cap of $1.4 billion already it’s a big mover while the rest of the market has been tailing off. Can it keep that trend going? It’s possible. After all we’re certainly not in the peaks of market mania, and if things really do fly again, this could be one of the big winners from this cycle as it plays out.

Trust in crypto,
Adam Atlantic

[1] https://www.story.foundation/whitepaper.pdf