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Origin Summit starts soon! Don't miss a moment. Tune in here ↓ x.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Origin Summit starts soon! Don't miss a moment. Tune in here ↓ x.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Korea runs on IP. AI runs on IP. IP runs on Story Story's Origin Summit is here. I feel an immense sense of pride hosting this inaugural gathering in Seoul, my home city. Korea has always been a first mover in technology. We pioneered the world’s first online game. For years we held the record for having the fastest internet. And today, we are the most AI-native population on earth, second only to the United States in paid ChatGPT users, with adoption in our workforce twice as high. Korea also leads in robotics, with 1,012 robots per 10,000 workers, which is the highest density in the world, and a robotics industry growing more than 15% each year. And in crypto, our presence is outsized: 30% of Koreans invest in digital assets, and KRW trading volume regularly surpasses $663B, making us the second-largest crypto market after the US. But what the world knows us best for is IP, as Korea is the nation of IPs. From K-Pop Demon Hunter and Squid Game, the #1 film and series in Netflix history to Baby Shark, the most-watched YouTube video of all time, to BTS and BLACKPINK, who defined global music in the last decade, to Parasite, which the New York Times declared the most important film of the century. Our cultural exports across music, gaming, film, and animation have tripled in the last decade, surpassing $9.85 billion in 2024. Our cultural soft power, tech adoption, and crypto-native energy makes Korea unstoppable. And yet, as an entrepreneur focused on IP the last 13 years, I can’t ignore the systemic problems in the foundation. Intellectual property remains the most illiquid and fragmented asset in the world. It is bound up in red tape and controlled by middlemen. Creators have little access to capital markets. Their only path is through the large streaming platforms. Copyright laws written ages ago prevent a simple licensing framework between AI and IP, leaving artists with no protection when AI models absorb their work without paying for it. This is why we built Story Protocol: to make the IP programmable. I firmly believe the most important conversation for Korea and the world right now is to be had at the intersection of IP, AI, and crypto. And that is exactly why I have invited leaders from each of these worlds to join us here in Seoul. With help from @blockworks, @hankyungmedia, and my team, I'm connecting the legends of Kpop and crypto at the heart of Korea. Some names I'm proud to speak alongside: – @maggiemkang, the director of KPop Demon Hunter, the #1 film in Netflix's history, with 236M+ views worldwide and counting. 4 songs from this film charted in Billboard's Top 10, the highest from a single soundtrack in 30 years. – Kyung In Jung, CEO of The Black Label. Producers behind BLACKPINK, K-pop Demon Hunter & so much more. – @ILLIT_Official, K-Pop's breakout group whose 1st single made history with 600M+ streams on Spotify and 500K+ albums sold. It also hit Top 10 on Billboard's Global 200. – @CryptoHayes, as the former CEO of BitMEX, I believe he needs no introduction to the Web3 crowd. – @justinsuntron, TRON Founder and HTX Advisor, is crypto's contrarian king and a master dealmaker in my view. We also have all the fantastic speakers we announced earlier, from the creators of Baby Shark and BTS to @ysiu, @LucaNetz, and 15+ other exciting names. To me, Origin Summit is more than just an event. It is the breakthrough moment for Korean IPs and the beginning of a global movement. Join us at our inaugural Origin Summit