Story (IP) Surges 10% on Crypto.com Partnership and $100M Buyback Expansion

Story (IP) price rallied significantly, gaining 10.53% to trade at $4.13, fueled by a 320% spike in trading volume indicating strong investor interest. The surge follows a strategic partnership announcement with Crypto.com, which will provide custody, execution, over-the-counter (OCT) trading, and staking services for IP’s treasury reserves. These reserves include 52.5 million IP tokens, valued at over $230 million, making Story Strategy the first public firm to hold IP as treasury assets.

Simultaneously, the Story Foundation expanded its buyback program from $82 million to $100 million, extending the deadline to February 1, 2026. The foundation has already completed over 60% of the planned purchases, aiming to deploy the full amount into open-market IP buys to reduce supply and enhance price stability after recent volatility.

Whale activity bolstered the uptrend, with CryptoQuant data showing large buy orders for seven consecutive days. On exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken, buy volume reached $973k versus $834k in sell volume, resulting in a positive delta of $139k and signaling accumulation. However, bearish risks linger, as the A/D (Accumulation/Distribution) indicator fell to -31.29 million, suggesting weak buyer conviction and a potential retest of the $3.5 support level. If whale demand and partnership momentum persist, IP could target the $5.6 resistance.

Background factors include a recent audit revealing smart contract vulnerabilities that caused an 88% drop in daily active users, but the partnership with IP Strategy (Nasdaq: IPST)—managing $80 trillion in programmable intellectual property exposure—has renewed institutional confidence. Price projections indicate IP could reach $6–$7 by early 2026 if buybacks continue, though failure to improve adoption might lead to a drop toward $3.