Transaction deepens alignment across the programmable IP economy and highlights early commercial traction on the Story network.
GIG HARBOR, Wash., Nov. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — IP Strategy (Nasdaq: IPST) (the “Company”), the first Nasdaq-listed entity operating a digital asset treasury strategy centered on the $IP token, today announced that it has made an initial purchase of tokens issued by Aria Protocol, specifically, $ARIAIP, Aria’s native governance token, and $APL, the protocol’s royalty-bearing, yield-generating asset.
IP Strategy’s acquisition of $ARIAIP and $APL reflects the Company’s strategy to expand its exposure to high-quality, real-world IP applications built on Story. As part of this strategy, the Company plans to continue supporting ecosystem projects that demonstrate real adoption and revenue potential, both through strategic collaboration and active market participation. Aria is a fast-growing platform that brings royalty-bearing music IP on-chain, starting with music enabling transparent ownership, automated licensing, and yield distribution. To date, Aria has tokenized catalogs from globally iconic artists including BTS, Justin Bieber, BLACKPINK, Madonna, and Miley Cyrus, marking one of the largest real-world deployments of music royalties on-chain.
- $ARIAIP governs the protocol’s IP RWA infrastructure
- $APL represents a claim on music royalty flows across Aria-acquired catalogs
The APL token also introduces a second potential revenue-generating engine for IP Strategy, offering yield exposure to real music royalty flows and complementing the Company’s recently launched validator business that has demonstrated high margins to date.
Together, these assets provide IP Strategy with selective exposure to one of the most commercially advanced IP Real World Asset (IP RWA) applications in the market, complementing the Company’s core $IP reserves. The Company believes Aria’s model showcases how real intellectual property can be turned into liquid, programmable assets which is a key pillar of the programmable IP thesis.
“Aria represents one of the strongest real-world demonstrations of what programmable IP enables,” said Seung Yoon “SY” Lee, CEO and Co-founder of PIP Labs, Chairman of the IP Strategy Advisory Board, and original creator of the Story IP protocol. “By acquiring $ARIAIP and $APL, IP Strategy is strengthening its exposure to yield-generating IP assets that validate the commercial utility of the Story network.”
“Having IP Strategy join Aria as a holder of both $ARIAIP and $APL represents a powerful vote of confidence in our long-term mission. Their support reinforces the role of Aria as a category-defining use case where real IP, real revenue, and real ownership converge,” said David Kostiner, Co-Founder and Chief IP Officer at Aria. “IP Strategy’s ability to connect regulated capital markets with onchain IP assets marks a new chapter for scaling this sector. Having a digital asset treasury (DAT) like IP Strategy join our holder base validates the strength of our model and expands the universe of participants who can engage with iconic real-world IP in a compliant way.”
Aria just recently executed its public token launch, completing a highly successful community token offering in the IP RWA sector that was significantly oversubscribed and attracted broad participation across supported jurisdictions. This follows Aria protocol’s rapid expansion of iconic IP rights, licensing flows, and creator participation, providing tangible validation of demand for tokenized IP assets.
This transaction between IP Strategy and Aria signals ecosystem maturity, commercial adoption, and growing institutional readiness across the Story-enabled programmable IP economy.
About IP Strategy
IP Strategy (Nasdaq: IPST) is the first Nasdaq-listed company to hold $IP tokens as a primary reserve asset and also operate a revenue-generating validator for the Story network. The Company provides public market investors with broad exposure to the $80 trillion programmable intellectual property economy in a regulated equity format. IP Strategy’s treasury reserve of $IP tokens provides direct participation in the Story ecosystem, which enables on-chain registration, licensing, and monetization of intellectual property.
Heritage Distilling Holding Company, Inc. is the registered corporate name of IP Strategy.
About Story
Story is the AI-native blockchain network powering the $IP token and making intellectual property programmable, traceable, and monetizable in real time. Backed by $136 million from a16z crypto, Polychain Capital, and Samsung Ventures, Story launched its mainnet in February 2025 and has rapidly become a leading infrastructure for tokenized intellectual property. Story allows creators and enterprises to turn media, data, and AI-generated content into legally enforceable digital assets with embedded rights, enabling automated licensing and new markets for intellectual property across AI and entertainment.
About Aria Protocol
Aria Protocol enables investors to access and earn from iconic IP RWA (Real-World Assets). Built on Story, the purpose built L1 blockchain for IP, Aria Protocol brings IP rights, starting with music, onchain as fungible and liquid crypto assets. In 2025, the first tokenized IP asset, $APL, was launched on Aria Protocol representing royalties from partial rights tied to songs performed by Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and BLACKPINK. $APL token is now also linked to remixes of 3 tracks from renowned South Korean artist and actress, NANA.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by words such as “aims,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “forecasts,” “goal,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “possible,” “potential,” “seeks,” “will,” and variations of these words or similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Any such statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, $ARIAIP’s and $APL’s prospects and potential and any ability to generate revenue and yield; the Company’s strategy to expand its exposure to IP applications built on Story; the ability for the Aria model to turn intellectual property into liquid, programmable assets; the commercial utility and traction of the Story network and the ecosystem maturity, commercial adoption and growing institutional readiness across the Story-enabled programmable IP economy.
Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on IP Strategy’s current expectations, estimates and projections only as of the date of this release and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks related to the volatility of the Company’s common stock and any correlation between the Company’s stock price and the price of $IP tokens. These and other risks concerning IP Strategy are described in additional detail in its registration statement on Form S-1 initially filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on August 26, 2025, as amended by Amendment No. 1 filed on October 16, 2025, its latest annual report on Form 10-K, subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual reports on Form 10-K, and any other subsequent filings with the SEC. IP Strategy explicitly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by law.
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