Korea’s highest-grossing webnovel and webtoon, and the most-watched anime in Crunchyroll history, announces a partnership with Story, spanning IP-backed memecoins and exploring on-chain IP economics.
The global phenomenon Solo Leveling is breaking new ground by coming on-chain via Story. In a move that bridges a blockbuster franchise with blockchain, Solo Leveling is exploring the issuance of a tokenized real-world asset (RWA), exploring an entirely new flavor of tokenized RWAs that differ from money market funds, equity offerings, and treasury vehicles that are typically represented in web3.
Solo Leveling is working with Story to initiate steps toward on-chain representation of select IP elements. This approach is intended to enable on-chain programmability for select integrations, opening the door to future fan-driven remixing, blockchain-based experiences, both digital and real-world, and next-gen licensing deals. The announcement cements Solo Leveling’s status as a cross-media juggernaut and as a pioneer in its industry by moving its IP to Web3.
Before its Web3 debut, Solo Leveling has already proven itself a cultural titan across multiple formats:
These feats illustrate Solo Leveling’s unrivaled multi-format success and passionate worldwide fanbase. Now, by venturing onto the blockchain, Solo Leveling is poised to redefine how a modern franchise can engage its community and unlock new value with its content.
Solo Leveling is collaborating with Story, the world’s first blockchain network purpose-built for intellectual property, to begin steps toward on-chain IP representation for select elements. Story tokenizes IP and makes it programmable, enabling new models of ownership, remix, and monetization for creators and fans. By onboarding Solo Leveling, Story is effectively aiming to demonstrate on-chain representation for one of the world’s highest-value franchises. In practice, this means select elements of the Solo Leveling IP (e.g., characters, universe, and content rights) could be represented on-chain and managed through smart contracts.
Once on Story, Solo Leveling’s IP would become machine-readable and enforceable on-chain, allowing developers and fans to build with it under preset rules. For example, a creator could remix a Solo Leveling character into a game mod with automated royalties flowing back to the IP holders. Licensed merchandise could be tied to on-chain provenance, and any third-party game or media using Solo Leveling content could seamlessly implement programmable licensing and revenue splits. In short, Solo Leveling’s move to Story unlocks a playground for community-driven innovation around the franchise, all secured by blockchain.
“Korea has always been a global launchpad for intellectual property. Beyond early unique cultural IP from K-pop, K-drama, Korea is leading the way in gaming, webtoons, and Hollywood heavy-hitters such as Squid Game and Parasite. Solo Leveling is a perfect example of how Korean IP can transcend borders, dominate every format, and build massive global fandoms. IP shouldn’t just be watched or read; it should be programmable. That means IP that can be tokenized, composable, and monetized across games, AI models, and consumer applications”, said SY Lee, co-founder and CEO of Story. “Registering Solo Leveling’s IP on-chain would unlock the next level of engagement, loyalty, and monetization, enabling remix culture, fan-powered economies, and token-native formats that weren’t possible before.”
In a bold crypto-native twist, the Solo Leveling team also revealed plans for an official IP-backed memecoin tied to the story’s universe and characters. This upcoming token (details and launch date TBA) will be directly backed by Solo Leveling’s characters and lore, making it one of the first memecoins anchored by a blockbuster franchise’s IP. Fans will effectively get to “own a piece” of the Solo Leveling saga in token form, a concept that could transform community engagement and fandom in Web3.
Unlike typical memecoins that often emerge from internet jokes with no ties to creators, this Solo Leveling coin will be authorized and supported by the IP owners. Built on Story’s infrastructure, it aims to align the token’s value with the franchise’s success: the more the story and its memes spread, the more both fans and creators can benefit. This approach follows a growing recognition that memes and viral content drive immense value (the memecoin market tops $100B), yet creators historically capture little of it. An official Solo Leveling coin would flip that script by channeling cultural hype into a token model designed to align fan engagement with the franchise’s success
“Solo Leveling has always been about leveling up, and now we’re looking to level up the franchise with Web3. With Story, we hope to see the IP expand beyond the series itself, which could allow fans and creators to join Solo Leveling’s next chapter in new ways.” – Jungsook Jang, CEO at Redice Studio.
Bringing Solo Leveling on-chain could mark a watershed moment for Story and the broader concept of tokenized IP. Solo Leveling is exploring phased registration of select IP elements, reflecting how one of the highest-value franchises is beginning to approach blockchain representation. For Story, this is a massive validation of its network’s vision: to become the go-to infrastructure for the $80 trillion IP industry in the age of AI and crypto. The Solo Leveling partnership is expected to drive significant activity to Story’s ecosystem, including new user onboarding (millions of fans curious about crypto) to developers building ecosystem dApps leveraging the IP.
With Solo Leveling’s fanbase and content now connected to Story’s purpose-built IP-blockchain, the stage is set for groundbreaking experiments at the intersection of fandom and web3. Community-created art, games, NFTs, and story expansions can bloom under clear rights and royalty rules. Memecoin enthusiasts can rally around a token that has real narrative backing. And IP owners (like Solo Leveling’s creators) have a template for how to extend their works into Web3 while retaining control and revenue share.
About Story: Story is a layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for intellectual property. It provides a decentralized registry for creators to tokenize their IP and set programmable licensing terms, enabling fair attribution, remixing, and monetization of creative works on-chain. The network’s native $IP token powers transactions and governance. Backed by leading investors (including a16z Crypto), Story is building an AI-native infrastructure to unlock the full value of the $80T IP asset class story. foundation.
