'a16z Leads Three Consecutive Rounds' Story, Developer Mainnet Launch

Intellectual Property (IP) blockchain platform Story's PIP Labs announced on January 24th that it launched the Developer Mainnet on January 21st (U.S. local time).

Story is a platform led by the largest venture capital firm in the U.S., Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), which raised $140 million (approximately 190 billion KRW) and is known to be the only blockchain project where a16z has led investment for three consecutive rounds.

Story is a Layer 1 (L1) blockchain platform designed to tokenize and protect knowledge in the form of IP in the AI era, allowing it to be shared or monetized. Not only people but also AI agents can automatically generate revenue using programmable IP assets. In particular, IP owners can set detailed permissions for their assets to be used for AI learning, commercial use, or limited use. This ensures that data usage is legally managed and that fair compensation is provided to the original creators.

Based in Silicon Valley, a global innovation hub where L1 blockchain companies like Aptos and Sui are concentrated, PIP Labs plans to accelerate collaboration with the global AI and blockchain ecosystem with this mainnet launch to maximize the synergy between AI and Web3.

In fact, Story has recently established itself as the first blockchain integrated with major large language models (LLM) through integration with Stability AI. Story's blockchain-based approach allows for real-time rights enforcement, unlike traditional IP systems, and provides efficiency to meet the vast data demands of AI.

The Developer Mainnet was built in collaboration with global early partners such as Blockdaemon, B-Harvest, and Luganodes, and provides a final test environment before the public mainnet launch, known as the Singularity phase. Once the Singularity phase is completed, it will enter the 'Big Bang' phase. In the Big Bang phase, block rewards will be distributed to all active validators, and the full-scale public mainnet operation will begin.

Jason Zhao, CEO of PIP Labs, stated, "Story recorded the IP issues raised in the lawsuit between the New York Times and OpenAI in the genesis block of the Developer Mainnet, presenting an alternative for knowledge protection and monetization in the AI era," adding, "The Developer Mainnet is the last stage before the public mainnet launch, and true innovation starts now."