Story, a blockchain platform for AI-native infrastructure and programmable IP, has partnered with the Hangzhou Cultural Property Exchange, Lanxess Media, and Web 3 incubator Starbase to launch China's first consumer digital advertising RWA (Real World Asset) project. This innovative project splits the advertising rights for the "Big Dumb Screen" at Hangzhou's GDA City Plaza into 800 digital assets, mapped to the Story public blockchain. The tokens went on sale at 10:00 AM on August 8, 2025, and sold out the same day.

This is the first advertising-related RWA project in mainland China jointly promoted by a state-owned enterprise, a compliance platform, and Web 3 infrastructure. It marks Story's first practical exploration of on-chain compliance for IPRWA (Intellectual Property Rights RWA) in China and provides important support for its global IP compliance strategy. This initiative also marks a key step in Story's regulatory compliance efforts in the Asia-Pacific region.

Real-world assets (RWA), artificial intelligence (AI), and intellectual property (IP) are emerging as the three most promising themes in the Web 3 world. As RWA expands into non-financial sectors, advertising resources (such as 3D outdoor screens, media space, and broadcasting rights), as assets with stable return expectations and real-world anchors, are becoming an emerging carrier for RWA. Incorporating such assets into on-chain issuance is not only a technological breakthrough but also a cutting-edge exploration of asset management logic.

Currently, non-standard assets still face a series of core challenges in the process of RWA chain, especially in the following aspects:

• Unclear ownership: Non-standard assets such as advertising space lack a unified ownership confirmation mechanism, and ownership and usage rights are often confused, leading to duplicate issuance and uncontrollable risks.
• Disconnect between the off-chain and on-chain: The on-chain can only record “expressions of rights” but lacks the support of off-chain legal mechanisms such as arbitration, notarization, and judicial enforcement, leading to obstacles in the execution of token rights.
• Insufficient legal protection: Once the operator changes, the contract expires, or the platform exits, how to protect the rights and interests of holders still lacks a complete off-chain support system.

For example, even if the playback rights of a 3D advertising screen are tokenized on the chain, if the actual operating entity changes or in extreme circumstances such as bankruptcy occurs, there is still uncertainty as to whether the token holders can continue to enjoy the rights.

The Story Chain is designed to address these issues through transparent on-chain traceability and automated incentive distribution mechanisms. As the on-chain and real-world environments converge, advertising-based RWAs offer multiple advantages over traditional financial assets like stocks, bonds, and real estate, including greater visibility, higher traffic value, and verifiable compliance.

The compliance framework of this collaboration is also groundbreaking:

• The Hangzhou Cultural Property Exchange (established with the approval of the Hangzhou Municipal People's Government and reviewed by the State Council Inter-Ministerial Joint Conference) is the off-chain title confirmation and listing institution. It participated in the on-chain asset issuance for the first time, establishing a compliant path of "off-chain title confirmation + on-chain mapping";
• State-owned institutions have transformed from "bystanders" to "participants", reflecting the positive response of the policy level to Web 3 and RWA practices;
• Story has been designated as the only public chain with technical support, demonstrating the technical credibility of blockchain infrastructure in real-world asset management.

Of particular note is that, starting at the end of 2024, several local governments (including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen) have piloted the establishment of "digital asset registration platforms" or "digital property rights trading mechanisms" to promote the integration of physical assets and digital technologies. Against this backdrop, the Hangzhou Cultural Property Rights Exchange, as a compliant platform with an official background, participates in the RWA project issuance, not only providing a foundation for policy compliance but also demonstrating regulatory authorities' positive attitude towards exploring "on-chain compliance."

It can be said that the cooperation between Story and the Cultural Exchange Center is at the intersection of policy encouragement and compliance exploration in mainland China. It provides a reference path for the digitization, standardization and on-chainization of more non-standard assets, and also further expands the actual layout of the $IP ecosystem in the Asia-Pacific region.

It is reported that the share price of China Media Holdings, a shareholder of Hangzhou Cultural Exchange Center and an important participant in this project, rose significantly on the day of issuance, with the highest increase on the day being 9.57%.

Historically, global asset management has undergone two major transformations: the first was the introduction of the Investment Company Act in 1940, which gave rise to the current $58 trillion mutual fund ecosystem; the second was the rapid development of ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) in 2024. According to a report released by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in October 2024, the tokenization of RWAs is becoming the "third revolution" in asset management, with explosive growth expected over the next five years, and the scale of tokenized assets under management is expected to exceed $600 billion by 2030.

The Story Network has already supported over 1.7 million intellectual property transactions and boasts over 200,000 monthly active users, demonstrating widespread demand for on-chain programmable IP infrastructure. The platform's content includes music from top global artists such as Justin Bieber, Madonna, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, BLACKPINK, BTS, BIGBANG, and Dua Lipa, as well as commercial partnerships with brands like Adidas and Crocs, demonstrating its broad applicability across the global cultural and business ecosystem.

The successful pilot of this consumer digital advertising RWA not only broadened the asset categories of RWA, but also provided a new paradigm for the transparency, decentralization and efficient circulation of the intellectual property market.

About Hangzhou Cultural Property Exchange

Hangzhou Cultural Property Exchange is a comprehensive property rights trading service institution with a national background. In recent years, it has continued to innovate and optimize services, gradually forming a trading service platform with asset trading as the core, and building a diversified, systematic and professional comprehensive trading service system.

About China Media Holdings

Hangzhou Newspaper Group is the third company in the China Newspaper Group to list its media operating assets as a whole. Its controlling shareholder is Hangzhou Newspaper Group. Leveraging Hangzhou's established mainstream media network, the company, while operating alongside cultural media businesses, is deeply integrated into the city's development, focusing on MICE, education, industrial parks, technology, and investment sectors. The company is committed to becoming a service provider centered on authoritative content production and dissemination, comprehensive city marketing services, and the development of a cultural and leisure ecosystem. The company has been recognized with titles such as China's Most Valuable Listed Company (Yangtze River Delta), Top 100 Chinese Listed Company Brands, Top 100 Service Enterprises in Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou's Leading Cultural and Tourism Enterprise, and Hangzhou's Model Collective.

About Starbase

Starbase Digital Innovation Limited is a Hong Kong-based Web 3 accelerator and a leading integrated service provider in the RWA sector. We offer a range of customized solutions for projects and platforms seeking to enter the RWA space, addressing asset issuance, compliance frameworks, technical architecture, ecosystem expansion, and market promotion, accelerating the implementation and development of the RWA industry.

About Story Foundation

Story Foundation is the nonprofit organization supporting the Story blockchain. Story is a technology platform purpose-built for the $80 trillion global intellectual property (IP) market, enabling creators, businesses, and AI systems to tokenize, track, and license IP. Its protocol addresses the disconnect between traditional law and the realities of creative work in the AI era, enabling traceable provenance, automated licensing, and expanding the boundaries of the IP market. Story also serves as the foundational platform for $IP to evolve into a web-native asset class, establishing itself as a leading crypto protocol with real-world application value.

Learn more: https://www.story.foundation