[PRESS RELEASE – Seoul, South Korea, September 22nd, 2025, Chainwire]
nPLUG will let fans legally remix film, music, and entertainment IP using Story’s programmable licensing infrastructure.
The Story Foundation has entered into a strategic collaboration with Barunson, the acclaimed studio in film and drama behind Parasite, known for spearheading the cultural content ecosystem by creating Asia’s only 340 billion KRW K-content investment fund. Together with its Web3 arm Nproject, they will launch nPLUG, a first-of-its-kind remixing platform for cultural IP.
Korean storytellers have captured the world’s imagination. Parasite won Best Picture at the Oscars. Squid Game became Netflix’s most-watched show. Baby Shark is a global phenomenon. But behind this success lies a structural problem: creators rarely retain ownership or share in the long-term upside. Platforms like Netflix own the IP. Studios operate on thin margins. Even as Korean content goes global, the value flows elsewhere.
This partnership represents a new model, one where creators retain their IP, raise capital directly from fans, and unlock new ways to monetize through tokenization.
Through this partnership, Barunson will build a structure that allows its flagship IP assets to be remixed, re-created, and revenue-shared on the blockchain. It is already working to port key IPs to the Nproject platform, bringing them onchain via Story. This creates new opportunities for K-content to evolve from a consumable product into a participatory, expandable asset in the global market.
Introducing nPLUG
Set to launch in Q4 2025, nPLUG will be the first platform to embed programmable licensing directly into short-form media content. Running natively on Story, the world’s first Layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for IP, nPLUG will allow fans, editors, and creators to legally remix licensed IP into new shortform videos.
Users can mint remixes as onchain assets with embedded licensing terms, automated royalty splits, and trackable attribution. Smart contracts will handle provenance, enforce permissions, and unlock new monetization channels for both original rights-holders and remix creators.
Creators will be able to freely produce and post derivative works based on original IPs, and revenues generated through ads or in-app purchases (IAP) will be automatically shared with the original IP owners.
Backed by Barunson’s cultural legacy, it is one of Korea’s most iconic film studios, having produced internationally acclaimed works such as:
With this track record, Barunson is uniquely positioned to bring world-renowned, remixable IP onchain, starting with nPLUG as the gateway to a programmable content ecosystem.
Until now, remixing IP legally has been nearly impossible. nPLUG, built by Nproject, changes that by introducing a new model for creative freedom and fair compensation with:
With over $12B in annual exports across K-content and one of the world’s most engaged fan economies, Korea’s entertainment industry is primed to lead the shift toward a decentralized creative economy. To accelerate adoption, Barunson, Story, and Nproject plan to advance blockchain-based IP monetization models and will launch an IP investment fund within the year.
nPLUG positions Korea at the forefront of a global movement to turn cultural IP into programmable capital. This means creators can license their IP legally and flexibly, allowing fans and new creators to remix, adapt, and expand stories without relinquishing ownership. It’s the foundation for a more equitable creative economy where IP value compounds over time and stays with those who imagined it.
Seung-yoon “SY” Lee, Co-founder & CEO, Story Protocol:
“Korean storytellers have proven they can capture the world’s imagination, just look at Parasite, Squid Game, or Baby Shark. But the business model behind these successes is broken. Platforms capture the upside, while the creators who built these worlds are treated like work-for-hire.
Story’s programmable IP infrastructure changes this. It enables creators and studios to keep ownership, raise capital directly from their fans, and turn their stories into globally investable franchises.
Shin-Beom Kang, CEO, Barunson:
“Barunson has been at the forefront of Korea’s cultural content industry, producing and developing a wide range of works across film, drama, metaverse, gaming, and live performance. This collaboration with Story and Nproject marks a pivotal step toward building a transparent and fair IP ecosystem powered by global fandom, and we are committed to advancing Korea’s content industry into the next-generation, blockchain-based IP economy.”
About Story
Story is a Layer-1 blockchain purpose-built to make intellectual property programmable. Backed by $136 million from a16z, Polychain, and Samsung Ventures, Story launched its mainnet in early 2025 and has quickly become a leading infrastructure for tokenized IP.The network enables creators, developers, enterprises, and AI labs to register content as on-chain assets with embedded rights — turning media, data, and AI-generated works into legally enforceable digital property. As the foundation for IP’s evolution into an internet-native asset class, Story powers a more open, equitable, and composable creative economy.
