IP-NFTs and IP Tokens

Introduction

IP-NFTs (Intellectual Property Non-Fungible Tokens) are a financial primitive that attaches legal intellectual property rights to an on-chain NFT. Created by Molecule, they allow researchers and institutions to tokenize their IP — such as drug candidates, research data, or biotech patents — and use that tokenized IP to raise funding from decentralized communities.

This solves a fundamental problem in academic research: traditionally, institutions own all IP generated by their researchers, and early-stage biotech IP is nearly impossible to fund through conventional venture capital due to long timelines and high risk. IP-NFTs create a new asset class that connects researchers directly with communities willing to fund high-risk, high-impact science.

How IP-NFTs Work

An IP-NFT binds a legal agreement (such as an exclusive license or assignment of IP rights) to an NFT on Ethereum. The NFT holder has legal rights to the underlying IP, verified through on-chain ownership. This enables transparent provenance, programmable royalties, and composable financial instruments built on top of research IP.

The first IP-NFT from a university was launched in June 2023 from Newcastle University, and the first DAO-filed scientific patent followed in December 2023 from HairDAO.

IP Tokens (IPTs)

IP Tokens are fractionalized governance tokens derived from IP-NFTs. They allow communities to co-own and govern research IP collectively. As of early 2026, Molecule's platform lists 46 unique IP Tokens with a combined market cap of approximately $16 million and $61.4 million in all-time DEX trading volume across 296,000+ transactions.

Use Cases

Longevity Research: VitaDAO uses IP-NFTs to fund early-stage longevity research, having deployed $4.7 million across 31 projects with 8 IP transactions generated.

Women's Health: AthenaBIO funds research into ovarian aging and women's health through IP-NFT-backed grants.

Psychedelics: PsyDAO funds research into MDMA prodrugs, endogenous DMT, and psychedelic-longevity intersections, with $280k deployed across 6 grants.

IP-NFTs effectively create a two-sided marketplace: researchers get earlier, more accessible funding, while communities get governance rights over potentially valuable biotech IP.

External Links

• Molecule Documentation — IP-NFT Framework
• Molecule — DeSci Token Trading Platform
• IP-NFTs in DeSci — Ethereum.org