Story Protocol Launches Mainnet and Decentralized IP Trading

Story Protocol Launches Mainnet and Decentralized IP Trading

Story Protocol has officially launched its public mainnet, aiming to disrupt the $61 trillion intellectual property industry by eliminating intermediaries. Developed by PIP Labs, the L1 network provides creators, businesses, and AI systems with a platform to register, trade, and monetize IP assets without legal friction.

The network debuts alongside its native token, IP, which will serve as the medium of exchange and a staking mechanism for securing the protocol. The initial supply is set at 1 billion tokens, with early backers and core contributors locked for one year to maintain long-term alignment.

A major use case for Story is "IPFi", a concept where intellectual property is tokenized as NFTs and used for fractional ownership and DeFi applications. “Anyone who has Instagram or TikTok or Snapchat, they produce and own IP, but that's really opaque and inaccessible,” Story co-founder Jason Zhao told Decrypt.

Zhao also foresees AI agents purchasing training data directly through the network. Alongside these innovations, the Story Foundation launched a rewards portal, allowing early adopters to claim 10% of IP’s total supply, though restrictions prevent immediate selling to ensure long-term participation.

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OpenSea Launches OS2 and Confirms SEA Token Airdrop

OpenSea has launched OS2, a redesigned NFT marketplace integrating token trading and cross-chain purchases while lowering marketplace fees. The company also confirmed an upcoming airdrop for the SEA token, which will reward long-term OpenSea users and include US participants.

CEO Devin Finzer clarified that prior rumors about KYC restrictions were false, stating the confusion stemmed from “boilerplate language on a test website.” he OS2 upgrade supports 14 additional blockchains, including Ethereum L2s like Berachain and Apechain, expanding OpenSea’s trading capabilities beyond NFTs.

It also reduces marketplace fees to 0.5%, with 0% swap fees, in a bid to regain market share lost to Blur. The OpenSea Foundation stated that SEA token allocations will favor “historical OpenSea usage, not just recent activity,” with further details yet to be announced.

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Ethereum Foundation Deploys $120 Million in DeFi Lending

The Ethereum Foundation has supplied 45,000 ETH, worth approximately $120 million, to Aave, Spark, and Compound to earn yield instead of selling its holdings. The largest allocation, 30,800 ETH, went to Aave, with Spark receiving 10,000 ETH and Compound getting 4,200 ETH. Aave founder Stani Kulechov called it the foundation’s “biggest allocation in DeFi,” adding, “DeFi will win.”

The move follows criticism over the foundation’s past ETH sell-offs, with many in the community supporting the shift toward DeFi-based treasury management. These deposits could generate an estimated $1.5 million annually based on current supply rates. Last month, the foundation transferred 50,000 ETH to a multi-sig wallet, a strategic pivot amid growing scrutiny of its financial decisions.

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Doodles NFTs Announces DOOD Token on Solana

NFT brand Doodles has unveiled DOOD, a 10-billion-supply Solana token with plans to bridge to Base for broader integrations. Of the total supply, 30% is allocated to the Doodles community, 25% to an ecosystem fund, and the rest split among the team, liquidity pools, and company reserves. CEO Scott Martin described the shift as ending “extractive” corporate deals in favor of the community.

Doodles joins other NFT projects like Pudgy Penguins in launching tokens amid shifting regulatory conditions under the Trump administration. Despite market downturns, Doodles remains a major brand, securing partnerships with McDonald’s, Pharrell Williams, and Adidas. Martin emphasized that DOOD will “initially hit the market as a meme coin” before evolving into a utility token.

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Data of the Day

Solana’s graduated PumpFun tokens, saw daily volumes plummet to $560 million, down 82% from a $3.1 billion peak last month. The graduation rate also declined to 1.04% last week, compared to 1.54% and 1.59% in previous weeks, showing a slowdown in tokens making it to secondary markets. Each new memecoin cycle has reached lower valuation ceilings, signaling fatigue in speculative trading.

The drop in Jito validator tips from 68,500 SOL ($17.5M) to 23,800 SOL ($4.8M) further reflects fading speculative interest. This cooling trend follows a wave of high-profile memecoins, starting with $TRUMP ($75B FDV) and tapering down through $MELANIA ($13B), $VINE ($500M), $JELLYJELLY ($250M), and most recently, $JAILSTOOL ($220M).

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More Breaking News

• Binance founder CZ teases a dog-inspired memecoin, fueling speculation, as PancakeSwap surpasses Uniswap in DEX trading volume.
• Coinbase is in talks with Indian regulators for a potential return, two years after suspending operations in the country.
• The X account of World Liberty Financial's co-founder was hacked to promote a fake Barron Trump memecoin project.
• South Korea is lifting its institutional crypto trading ban, allowing charities, universities, and listed companies to buy and sell digital assets in phases.
• Mastercard tokenized 30% of its transactions in 2024 and sees stablecoins as competition, acknowledging crypto’s potential in finance.
• Bitcoin ETFs have seen three consecutive days of outflows totaling $494M, as Bitcoin price remains rangebound around $96,000.
• Six men kidnapped a Chicago family and their nanny, holding them hostage for five days while demanding $15M in cryptocurrency as ransom.

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