Story co-founder defends token unlock delay, says project needs ‘more time’

Story Protocol co-founder SY Lee defended the decision to delay the first major IP token unlock to August 2026, stating the blockchain requires more time to build usage and that near-zero on-chain revenue is the wrong metric for their intellectual-property and AI data network. This six-month delay aligns with a strategic pivot from a general IP registry toward licensing human-generated datasets for AI training. Lee referenced Worldcoin's decision to extend its lockups as precedent, framing the delay as a signal of long-term commitment. He argued that low gas revenue understates Story's activity because monetization primarily occurs off-chain through enterprise licensing agreements for rights and usage terms embedded in smart contracts, rather than retail transaction fees. The immediate focus is on recording ownership for "unscrapable" human-contributed data, which delays the visibility of on-chain income but is seen as a healthier approach than rushing liquidity into a weak market.

(Source：CoinDesk)