Grayscale Launches Story Trust to Invest in AI Era IP Token

Grayscale has launched the Grayscale® Story Trust, a new investment vehicle offering exposure to $IP, the native token of the Story network. This trust functions similarly to Grayscale’s existing single-asset investment products and is open to accredited and institutional investors. The trust is fully invested in the $IP token, which underpins the Story protocol, a blockchain network designed to power programmable intellectual property in the AI era.

The Story network aims to make intellectual property—such as music, media, personal likenesses, and real-world data like video and speech—traceable, enforceable, and monetizable on-chain. By integrating licensing logic and attribution rules directly into smart contracts, Story enables secure, scalable, and compliant management of intellectual property across blockchain applications. The platform has reported over 1.7 million intellectual property transactions and more than 200,000 monthly users as of July 2025, indicating growing demand for such infrastructure.

SY Lee, CEO and co-founder of PIP Labs, emphasized that the launch of the Grayscale Story Trust marks a key step in bringing programmable intellectual property to institutional markets. He noted that the platform supports the full lifecycle of intellectual property, from creative content to real-world datasets used by AI systems. Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, Head of Product & Research at Grayscale, highlighted that the trust offers investors access to a protocol foundational to the AI and information age.

Despite its potential, the investment carries significant risks. The Story protocol is relatively new, and its technological mechanisms may not perform as intended, which could negatively impact the value of $IP and the trust. Additionally, digital assets are known for extreme price volatility, which could result in substantial losses for investors. The trust’s shares may not be approved for secondary market trading, and even if they are, their price may not accurately reflect the value of the underlying assets.

Grayscale cautions that this offering is not an invitation to invest in jurisdictions where such activity would be illegal. The trust is structured as a private placement, which means it is speculative and illiquid. Investors should be prepared for the risk of losing their entire investment and should consult the Private Placement Memorandum for further details.

The intellectual property economy is estimated to be worth over $80 trillion, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s 2025 Global Innovation Index. Story’s initiatives, such as Poseidon, aim to integrate real-world data into AI systems, further expanding its potential applications in fields like robotics, autonomous vehicles, and surgical assistants. These developments highlight the protocol’s broad, transformative capabilities.

[1] Source: [1] Grayscale® Launches Grayscale® Story Trust (https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/07/31/3125065/0/en/Grayscale-Launches-Grayscale-Story-Trust.html)