What is Aria?

Aria is a protocol built on Story, a Layer 1 blockchain. It allows anyone to invest in and earn royalties from iconic IP which was previously inaccessible to most investors.

What can you do with Aria?

Aria empowers users to invest in intellectual property, something that was previously inaccessible to all but the biggest players. Aria makes IP (intellectual property) liquid, meaning that it can be fractionalized and traded. Users will be able to access part of the IP as an investment, instead of spending millions to buy the entire thing. When doing so, you are effectively purchasing a claim to the future potential revenue that asset will generate. With this, you can hold and stake it to keep collecting royalties, or sell it to another buyer on a decentralized marketplace.

Aria additionally allows creators to control how their assets are licensed and remixed. Where this is desired by the creator, Aria tokenizes the IP with programmable features, allowing creators to control how their IP is licensed through onchain smart contracts that automate permissions, attribution and payouts.

How does Aria work?

Aria allows users to purchase what we call IPRWA — Intellectual Property Real World Assets — tokens. IPRWA tokens are fungible tokens backed by a portfolio of real world IP asset rights, acquired by Aria Protocol. These give token holders exposure to royalties associated with the works.

There are three basic steps in the lifecycle of IPRWA: Fundraising, Staking, and Royalty Collection.

Step 1: Fundraising

Before intellectual property can be tokenized and the royalties distributed, it must first be bought. This is done through a system Aria calls vaults. Vaults allow users to send USDC to a fundraiser. Once the fundraising goal is reached, Aria will finalize the purchase of the intellectual property and begin collecting the royalties from the purchased IP assets. The users who participated in the fundraise will get a share of the IPRWA tokens representing the assets proportional to the amount that they contributed to the fundraiser. If a fundraise goal is not reached, users are able to reclaim their deposits for a full refund.

Step 2: Staking

Once the intellectual property as been tokenized and distributed to users, they are able to be staked in order to earn royalties. Staking is how users earn their share of royalties from the underlying IP assets of Aria tokens. While staked, users will earn royalties collected from the underlying assets of the IPRWA token.

Step 3: Royalty Collection

Once staked, an $IPRWA becomes a $stIPRWA — a staked version of the token that accrues royalty rewards over time. An example of an IPRWA token is $APL and we can use this to illustrate how royalties work.

At launch, the exchange rate is 1:1 (1 $stAPL = 1 $APL). As royalties from the portfolio are collected offchain and used to buy back $APL on the open market, those tokens are deposited into the staking pool — increasing the amount of $APL backing each $stAPL.

As a result, the value of $stAPL gradually increases relative to $APL. For example, over time, 1 $stAPL might be worth 1.05 or 1.10 $APL depending on royalty performance.

To realize these rewards, users have two options:

Option 1: Unstake via Aria WebApp

• Go to the Aria webapp and click on the Stake tab

• Unstake any amount of your $stAPL

• Your $stAPL is then burned automatically, and the equivalent amount of $APL is sent to your wallet at the current exchange rate

You can then choose to hold or restake, or may be able to convert your $APL into other tokens via a DEX, if available for trading.

Option 2: Swap $stAPL on a DEX

You can trade your $stAPL for $APL directly on a supported DEX (if available for trading). You can similarly choose to hold, stake, or convert your $APL into other cryptocurrencies or fiat.

• Exchange $stAPL for $APL at current market rates

• You retain full flexibility

Please note, the DEX market price may not reflect the onchain exchange rate due to arbitrage — so be sure to check prices before swapping.

Once you have $APL again, you can restake to continue earning, or sell it for USDC or other assets via decentralized exchanges.

Don’t worry if this sounds technical — Aria’s platform provides a clean user experience with guided steps, and a full help center to walk you through everything.

What exactly are IPRWA tokens?

IPRWA stands for Intellectual Property Real World Assets — a new asset class at the heart of how Aria operates. Historically, access to valuable intellectual property has been limited to large institutions and industry insiders. Aria changes that by bringing IP onchain through IPRWA Tokens.

IPRWA Tokens are ERC-20 tokens built on the Story blockchain. They are fungible tokens backed by a portfolio of real world IP asset rights, acquired by Aria Protocol. These give token holders exposure to royalties associated with the works. By tokenizing IP in this way, Aria makes it possible for anyone to invest in and earn from assets that were previously illiquid and inaccessible.