Maggie Kang to Redefine IP Futures at Seoul’s Origin Summit 2025

Maggie Kang, the acclaimed director of the globally successful animation film "K-POP DEMON HUNTERS," has been announced as a featured speaker at the Origin Summit 2025, an event co-hosted by Story Protocol and Blockworks during Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul. Kang will participate in an exclusive fireside conversation, focusing on the future of storytelling, the global expansion of Korean cultural content, and the intersection of intellectual property (IP) with AI and blockchain technologies. This announcement underscores the growing role of cross-industry collaboration in shaping the programmable IP economy, where cultural narratives and digital assets converge to create new economic models.

Kang’s involvement follows a track record of redefining storytelling conventions. "K-POP DEMON HUNTERS," which she wrote, directed, and produced, became Netflix’s most-watched film of all time, amassing 236 million views within nine weeks. The film also achieved a record-breaking $19 million theatrical debut after being available on the streaming platform for two months. Its soundtrack contributed eight Billboard Hot 100 hits, including the top-ranked "Golden," and received critical acclaim with a 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Kang’s approach to storytelling broke from conventional "female superhero" tropes, instead creating relatable, flawed heroines that resonated with a global audience and sparked a dedicated fandom. Her work exemplifies the potential for culturally driven IP to influence music, merchandising, and media consumption patterns on a worldwide scale.

The Origin Summit, held in Seoul for the first time in 2025, is positioned as a key platform for exploring how AI, blockchain, and financial innovation are reshaping the IP ecosystem. Story Protocol, the IP blockchain infrastructure company behind the event, has been at the forefront of developing a framework for programmable digital assets. Backed by a16z, Polychain, and Samsung Ventures, Story has raised $136 million in funding and launched its mainnet in February 2025. The platform enables creators and developers to tokenize intellectual property and embed enforceable licensing and revenue-sharing terms. This infrastructure is critical for addressing longstanding inefficiencies in IP management, such as complex rights ownership, fragmented licensing, and revenue distribution challenges.

The Summit’s focus on tokenization aligns with broader industry efforts to unlock the $80 trillion IP market, which is currently characterized by illiquidity and outdated legal frameworks. Story Protocol’s AI-native infrastructure introduces a novel approach to managing intellectual property by allowing AI agents to autonomously interact, negotiate, and transact with IP assets. This includes the use of AI-driven protocols like ATCP/IP, which enable seamless collaboration between machine agents. Such innovations are expected to have far-reaching implications for industries ranging from entertainment and robotics to healthcare and DeSci (Decentralized Science), where real-world data is increasingly critical for training next-generation AI models.

Maggie Kang’s participation in the Summit adds to an already impressive lineup of speakers, including industry leaders from entertainment, finance, and blockchain sectors. These speakers are united by a shared vision of leveraging technology to redefine the creative economy. As the event approaches, the convergence of storytelling expertise and technological innovation promises to provide actionable insights into the future of IP ownership, cultural expression, and decentralized asset management. The Origin Summit is not only a platform for thought leadership but also a catalyst for advancing a new paradigm in which creativity and capital are seamlessly integrated.