During a Cointelegraph AMA, BeatSwap co-founder Hazel explained how intellectual property (IP) rights are evolving into real-world assets (RWAs) onchain, with music as the starting point and fans getting a chance to join the IP economy.
BeatSwap positions itself as a full-stack platform designed to register verified IP rights onchain, enabling transparent participation for creators, fans, and investors. While music serves as the entry point, the underlying infrastructure is built to support IP across entertainment categories, including film, gaming, and other digital media.
According to Hazel, the distinction matters because collectibles derive value from resale, while IP rights are linked to ongoing licensing and streaming activity. By standardizing royalty flows through smart contracts, BeatSwap treats IP as a cash-flow-generating asset that can be verified and accounted for in real time.
One of the core issues in traditional IP markets is transparency. Creators often wait months to receive royalty payments and have limited insight into how earnings are calculated. Hazel explained that onchain IP registration addresses both settlement speed and visibility. “By recording rights and licensing data on the blockchain, information becomes instantly verifiable, and settlements can happen in real time,” she noted.
BeatSwap’s economic layer is built around two participation models: licensing-to-earn and vault-to-earn. Licensing-to-earn tracks verified licensing activity onchain through an index token, compensating users based on actual IP usage rather than speculation. Vault-to-earn functions as a supporting layer, allowing participants to allocate capped funds that power licensing activity over time and support long-term ecosystem growth.
Verification underpins the entire system. BeatSwap uses Oracle-based mechanisms to validate ownership and licensing events such as streams and unlocks, ensuring that onchain representations match real-world rights. This framework, Hazel explained, is what allows IP rights to function as credible RWAs rather than abstract digital claims.
While music anchors BeatSwap’s early traction, Hazel emphasized that scalability depends on standardizing rights structures rather than content formats. Fragmented ownership has historically made IP difficult to tokenize, especially when multiple stakeholders are involved in a single work. “IP is a digital-first asset that moves globally through licensing and streaming,” Hazel said. “Once the infrastructure exists, it becomes one of the most optimized categories for tokenization.”
BeatSwap applies the same verification and accounting framework across IP categories, enabling expansion without rebuilding the system for each industry. The roadmap reflects this broader ambition. Upcoming components include a social interaction layer, an RWA launcher for tokenizing rights, and a decentralized marketplace where tokenized IP generates licensing-based returns.
The AMA concluded with a forward-looking view of IP as a first-class onchain asset. BeatSwap’s approach centers on verifiable usage, transparent revenue flows, and shared participation between creators and fans – positioning IP rights as a functional and scalable RWA category within Web3.
