With backing from top-level capital and leading entertainment IPs, can it lead the new track of AI entertainment and Web3?

Written by: Grok, Doubao

Translated by: Saoirse, Foresight News

On July 7, the entertainment track chain settlement platform KOR Protocol announced the completion of a $7.5 million Series A financing, with a valuation of $100 million. This round of financing was led by 1kx and Blockchain Capital, with Republic Crypto, Sfermion, Animoca Brands, Alumni Ventures, SevenX Ventures, Avalanche, Solana, Camp Network and other institutions participating. Prior to this Series A, KOR Protocol had completed multiple rounds of early financing, coupled with strategic investments; Camp Network had acquired partial equity in the project, and both sides conducted deep collaborative layouts around music remixing and IP tokenization.

KOR Protocol was established in 2024 and is an on-chain creative asset settlement platform built on the Coinbase Layer2 network Base. The project provides verification, routing, and settlement infrastructure for creative works such as music and movies, helping creators match with brands, platforms, and distributors by registering assets on-chain, and enabling programmable revenue-sharing payments using stablecoins like USDC. KOR Protocol belongs to the decentralized intellectual property (IP) management and entertainment infrastructure track, with a positioning to build an end-to-end creative asset settlement system.

As of the announcement of the financing, the official disclosed that KOR Protocol had accumulated over 1 million registrations, 400,000 connected wallets, over 1,000 IP partners, and achieved total revenue exceeding $2 million.

Data source: KOR Protocol official website and financing announcement (July 2026 data)

Team and Founder Background

The founding team of KOR Protocol combines industry veterans, technical experts, and entrepreneurial backgrounds.

Inder Phull is one of the co-founders and previously co-founded Pixelynx (a metaverse startup focusing on the integration of music, gaming, and Web3), which was later acquired by Animoca Brands. His experience in entertainment IP and the Web3 field provided early industry connections for the project.

KOR Protocol co-founder Inder Phull,Linkedin link

Ritty Quin officially took on the role of CEO of KOR Protocol at the end of 2025. Public records show that she holds a PhD from University College London, worked at ByteDance early on, and later focused on marketing in the tech industry; she is also an electronic music producer, signed to Live Nation Asia, with works that have appeared multiple times on Beatport charts and BBC Radio 1, having headlined the Creamfields music festival in Asia, possessing dual experience as a creator and in corporate operations.

KOR Protocol's advisory team also includes well-known electronic musicians deadmau5, Richie Hawtin, Grammy award winner Imogen Heap, as well as the British electronic duo Disclosure and German DJ Dixon.

Implementation Path and Technical Highlights

KOR Protocol aims to become a single system for creative transactions in the AI era, achieving verification, routing, and settlement of creative assets. The project aims to provide a transparent, efficient, and scalable environment for IP management through the combination of blockchain, AI, and DeFi, reducing dependence on traditional intermediaries, and supporting collaboration between creators and brands, platforms.

The implementation path includes building a core infrastructure layer and an upper product suite. The infrastructure focuses on three engines: Verify (verifying ownership and origin), Route (cross-platform routing and matching), Settle (instant payments and royalty distribution using stablecoins like USDC). The project is deployed on Coinbase's Layer2 network Base, supporting persistent digital asset identifiers and complex licensing protocol management.

The technical highlights include the integration of AI-native workflows, such as coordinating release planning, content packaging, and partner matching through agentic workflows; global payment automation enabling agent-ready transactions; and production settlement modules providing trusted origins, authenticity, ownership, and settlement records. Additionally, audience intelligence features utilize data and trend video generation for personalized recommendations.

The product suite includes:

• Pacer: A music career operating system that uses AI agents to manage release planning, playlist promotion, and distribution strategies.
• KORUS: An interactive music remixing platform that supports collaboration between artists and fans.
• KOR Hubs: A creator community platform for selling stem packs, holding remix competitions and courses.
• VRSNS: A content generation and repurposing platform that assists in content production across social platforms.
• Streamline: A creative intelligence platform providing data-driven viral content recommendations.

Source:KOR Protocol official X platform

These products aim to connect emerging talent with record labels, agencies, brands, and communities.

Recent activities include expanding licensed music and entertainment IP supply to serve AI-native products, deepening protocols and product stacks, and attracting more creators, rights holders, and developers. The project plans to proceed with the token launch and strengthen integration with media and tech partners.

In terms of progress, KOR has partnered with Beatport to operate an artist-fan collaboration model, converting licensed stems into "Artist DNA" for fans to remix and own; integrated KOR Player with KDDI, supporting the distribution of generative AI music in AR and the metaverse; and integrated with other partners such as Darewise Entertainment, OPAL Protocol, and Motorverse. Partners also include Black Mirror, Imogen Heap, mau5trap, Banijay Group, etc.

In market development, KOR focuses on music, media, and tech enterprises, expanding into global payment tracks and cross-platform distribution, covering a range from independent creators to major franchises.

Ecological Progress and Competitor Analysis

The IP partnership list includes Banijay Group, Beatport, KDDI, mau5trap label, Black Mirror IP holders, and several Grammy-winning musicians; strategic ecosystem partners include Web2 game manufacturers and Web3 public chain projects such as Niantic and Camp Network. The market expansion strategy primarily targets the European and American entertainment markets while simultaneously conducting cross-blockchain ecosystem collaborations, obtaining strategic investments from Solana and Avalanche, with protocol technology supporting cross-chain IP data reading, not forcing users to migrate to an independent proprietary public chain. The commercialization path prioritizes the music track, with plans to gradually expand into series IP, offline interactive experiences, and AR content licensing scenarios.

Currently, in the Web3 track, Story Protocol is the most direct competitor, both targeting the on-chain IP track in the AI era, but with clear differences in their underlying approaches:

• Story Protocol: Focuses on building its Layer1 public chain, aiming to construct an independent IP ecosystem. It completed $80 million in Series B financing in 2024, with a valuation of $2.25 billion, focusing on building underlying IP native protocol standards; the project's native token $IP is set to launch in October 2025, and as of early July 2026, the token’s circulating market value remains in the range of $300-400 million, showing significant retreat from its earlier primary market valuation of $2.25 billion;
• KOR Protocol: Chooses to rely on the existing Ethereum Layer 2 Base deployment, does not build an independent underlying blockchain, and primarily provides quick-access SaaS-level copyright tools for existing creators and entertainment companies. This lowers the on-chain access threshold for traditional creators and entertainment organizations, prioritizing revenue realization and forming a differentiated advantage compared to competitors.

In addition, other market participants include platforms focusing on NFT rights confirmation for artworks and Web3 music streaming projects, but most products only cover a single category of assets. KOR Protocol's differentiated positioning is to simultaneously accommodate music, long and short video IPs, and interactive derivative content, bridging AI commercial licensing scenarios.

Currently, the common challenge in the track is: traditional large copyright organizations' willingness to go on-chain still needs to be cultivated; digital copyright laws and regulations in various countries around the world have yet to be unified; and the business model for AI training material licensing is still in the early exploration phase.

Token Economics and Ecological Incentive System

According to project disclosure, the ecological native token $KOR is planned as a functional token for the protocol, with main uses including:

• A medium for fees when developers invoke KOR SDK, AI engine, and on-chain rights confirmation services;
• Ecological governance, proposing votes on protocol authorization standards, fee rules, and ecological incentive pool distribution;
• IP parties and creators staking tokens to gain ecological traffic support and priority display rights;
• Incentivizing early creators, developers, and node partners.

The project has yet to disclose specific total token supply, allocation ratios, unlocking timelines, and public/private sale details; relevant plans will be gradually disclosed as the token launch progresses. At the same time, the protocol supports third-party IPs to issue independent fan tokens (e.g., MIRROR), with third-party tokens operating on KOR infrastructure but not belonging to the native KOR token system.

KOR Protocol has established an off-chain points incentive system (official entry: https://rewards.korprotocol.io/), consisting of two main modules, KOR ID and KOR Score, which are important bases for users to acquire potential rights in the future ecosystem.

• KOR ID is a unique user identity account for the ecosystem, with a single ID able to bind multiple wallets. The financing data indicates 1 million registrations as the cumulative number of KOR IDs, while the 400,000 connected wallets exist as repeated binding statistics, not independent user counts.
• KOR Score is the current core ecological contribution score, unified from early KOR Points and migrated from there; the old points system has been discontinued. Users can accumulate scores through tasks creation, invitations, holding NFTs, etc.

KOR Score serves as a reference credential for ecological contributions, and the market expects it to be used for future token distributions. However, the official has not disclosed exchange rules or snapshot timing, and there are no rigid rights commitments, leading to uncertainty.

Track Development Outlook and Core Risk Warning

In summary, KOR Protocol has further consolidated its core position in the AI era creative asset on-chain infrastructure track through the $7.5 million Series A financing, top-level capital backing, and reserves of leading entertainment IP resources. The project has abandoned the heavy asset model of developing a major underlying public chain, relying instead on Base L2 for rapid commercialization, using SaaS-level tools to lower the on-chain access threshold for traditional creators and entertainment institutions, prioritizing revenue realization, and forming a differentiated advantage compared to competitors. With the subsequent token ecosystem landing, continued expansion of IP collaboration scenarios, and improvement of the AI creation authorization system, the project is expected to continue deeply cultivate the AI entertainment Web3 track and further close the full chain loop of creative asset rights confirmation, authorization, transactions, and revenue sharing.

Considering the current industry climate, the core risks of the project are focused on the overall valuation correction of the IP + AI entertainment track and the cooling of narratives, rather than on the pace of token issuance, specifically reflected in three points:

First, the overall valuation bubble of the track is clearing, with sector performance persistently weakening. Since 2026, various tokens in the IP rights confirmation and AI entertainment track, including Story Protocol (IP), have generally seen deep pullbacks, and the market has completed a valuation repricing following the early high narratives of "IP on-chain, AI authorization." Funding is gradually cooling from sensational hype and paying more attention to real cash flow and institutional landings, putting downward pressure on the overall Beta of the track, which limits the project’s subsequent valuation space.

Second, the industry's conversion rate remains low, with the commercialization narrative having risks of over-extension. The current AI copyright compliance system has not landed, and traditional entertainment IP parties have a conservative attitude towards on-chain rights confirmation and AI secondary authorization; most IP on-chain projects are still at the stage of user accumulation and cooperative announcements, making it difficult to form large-scale, reusable profit models, and there remains structural risk of "excitement exceeding landing" in the long-term.

Third, there is a historical risk of safety public opinion. On October 12, 2024, the project experienced an official X account theft incident, where the attacker hijacked the account to post phishing links to lure users into authorizing assets. Although this incident did not cause contract vulnerabilities, project treasury or user on-chain assets to be stolen, it exposed shortcomings in the project's social media operations security, easily leading to user trust crises and short-term public opinion fluctuations.

Reference Articles:

FinSMEs: KOR Protocol Raises $7.5M in Series A Funding (2026)

GlobeNewswire official announcement (2026)

KOR Protocol official website, Rewards incentive portal

CryptoRank, The Block and other related reports

LinkedIn and X platform public information

KOR Protocol official documents