Soneium, the blockchain entertainment ecosystem developed by Sony Group and Startale Group, is expanding into tokenized intellectual property investments through a collaboration with Asseto, bringing eligible users access to royalty-linked exposure from a $549 million fund managed by global private markets investment firm Partners Group.

The initiative introduces two products, ipUSD and IP Vault, through Soneium Portal, enabling eligible participants to gain exposure to a diversified portfolio of intellectual property royalties. The underlying fund comprises 53 investments and more than 100,000 royalty streams, including exposure linked to The Weeknd’s back catalogue, music from other prominent artists, Discovery’s television library, and intellectual property assets across pharmaceuticals, brands and energy transition.

Scheduled to become available on October 28, 2026, the launch represents a step toward making institutional private-market investment strategies accessible through blockchain infrastructure. Royalty investments, which generate income from the commercial use of intellectual property, have historically been largely available to institutional investors and specialized investment firms.

Through IP Vault, eligible users will be able to access royalty-linked exposure by depositing ipUSD into the vault on Soneium Portal. Asseto provides the tokenization and digital asset infrastructure connecting Partners Group’s underlying investment strategy with Soneium’s blockchain ecosystem.

The collaboration reflects growing interest in tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs), particularly financial products traditionally characterized by limited accessibility and complex distribution structures. While tokenization has increasingly focused on assets such as government bonds, private credit and real estate, intellectual property royalties represent another category of assets that can be connected to blockchain-based financial markets.

For Soneium, the initiative also supports a broader strategy to develop an onchain economy centered on intellectual property, bringing together creators, rights holders, investors and audiences through blockchain-based financial infrastructure.

“When fans and investors back the IP they love, that funding moves through the Soneium ecosystem and ultimately flows back to creators and studios, giving them the freedom to take bolder creative risks,” said Yuji Kumagai, Head of Soneium Protocol.

Partners Group, which manages approximately $186 billion in assets across private equity, private credit, infrastructure, real estate and royalties, is providing the underlying investment strategy. The partnership offers the firm an additional blockchain-enabled distribution channel for its royalties programme.

“Tokenization represents an important evolution in how investors access private markets,” said Vincent Ng, Managing Director and Co-Head of Asia at Partners Group. He added that the collaboration combines institutional private-market investments with blockchain-enabled distribution for eligible onchain investors.

Asseto, meanwhile, is responsible for bridging the traditional investment product with blockchain infrastructure. The company has previously deployed 14 real-world asset products across multiple blockchains, with tokenized asset volume approaching $500 million.

According to Bridget Li, Asseto’s Co-founder and CEO, the value of tokenization extends beyond simply representing existing assets onchain, allowing institutional investment products to become more programmable, transferable and usable within digital financial markets.

The new products will also be integrated into Startale App, where ipUSD will be available from launch. Users will be able to swap between USDSC, Soneium’s native stablecoin, and ipUSD directly through the application, providing another route to access the token.

Launched in 2025, Soneium supports applications spanning music, gaming, anime, film, digital collectibles and fan-created content. The network has increasingly positioned tokenized intellectual property as a central component of its long-term development, seeking to connect the economic value of creative works with blockchain-based investment and participation opportunities.

By introducing royalty-linked investments backed by an established private markets manager, Soneium is extending that strategy beyond digital collectibles and entertainment applications into institutional financial products. The launch illustrates how blockchain networks focused on entertainment are beginning to intersect with the broader tokenization of traditional investment markets.

This story was published on HackerNoon under our Business Blogging Program