Can blockchain tame AI’s IP problem?

The following is a guest post and opinion from Shane Neagle, Editor In Chief from The Tokenist.

It is no secret that large language models (LLMs) crossed the capability threshold by harvesting vast amounts of public and private data. Combined with breakthroughs in transformer architectures and compute power, this data scraping led to concerns about intellectual property (IP) rights.

Intellectual property frameworks exist to incentivize innovation and creative spark, protecting creators and businesses. In turn, the entire society benefits from that incentive structure. Eventually, IP protections typically expire, at which point IP becomes integrated into the public domain.

The global harmonizing IP framework is the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) under the World Trade Organization (WTO) umbrella, together with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

However, with AI rapidly blurring the line between human and machine creativity, the foundational assumptions of the IP system are under strain. Without explicit consent and compensation, LLMs are routinely trained on copyrighted works, eroding the important incentive structure.

Over time, it is not difficult to see digital oligopolies entrenching their power with the largest compute power and data access, while barring smaller players from large-scale data scraping.

Yet, once again when it comes to data flows, a potential solution can arise from the blockchain ecosystem. Specifically, with layer-1 Camp Network (CAMP) blockchain.

How Does Camp Network Tackle IP Incentivization Erosion?

Just as Bitcoin mainnet immutably registers the transfer of value, Camp Network aims to immutably register the transfer and attribution of people’s work. With a permanent and verifiable record of ownership, creators can automatically enforce licensing terms – through smart contracts – whenever AI models use this registered content.

To accomplish this, Camp Network uses the proof-of-provenance (PoP) protocol, which handles IP origin and licensing terms. On top of this core protocol, Camp Network uses BaseCAMP as a global IP registry and SideCAMPs tailored for dApps pertaining to IP enforcement in various sectors such as music, books, or gaming.

Specifically, creators and organizations could register IP as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which have already pioneered a form of on-chain royalties system, despite the market deflation since late 2021. Although this was an important proof of concept, royalties enforcement relies more on marketplace cooperation, not the blockchain itself.

Case in point, there was a period of ‘royalty wars’ between OpenSea and other marketplaces like Blur, in which marketplaces introduced a royalties-optional model opting for token incentivization instead. Eventually, this led to a fragmented and voluntary NFT royalty ecosystem, exacerbated by faulty metadata.

Building on these lessons, Camp Network is embedding royalty logic at the protocol layer, instead of relying on marketplaces. This means that royalties would not just apply to content, but to data usage – ideal for scenarios when LLMs train on registered datasets.

Camp Network’s Registration and Monetization Process

With its purpose-built layer-1 blockchain, Camp Network is foremost aimed at individual creators across all digital content categories. Whether it is a music track or a digital image, the process is as follows:

• Using Origin Framework, creators register their work on-chain, during which they embed licensing terms and royalty range tied into the asset’s smart contract.

• On the other hand, when an AI developer uses mAltrix Framework to train an AI agent, it taps into content from Camp’s registry.

• As AI uses a registered asset, to either generate new content or for training, Camp Network’s proof-of-provenance tracks its usage. Accordingly, smart contracts automatically execute the creator’s pre-defined terms, distributing CAMP payment to the wallet.

To put it differently, Camp Network is better understood as add-on infrastructure rather than another protocol. On its portal, users can even transfer native ETH from Ethereum, which holds the highest number of dApps and developers.

At present, Camp Network’s ecosystem spans 141 dApps. This is unsurprising given that the protocol is fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), making for easy dApp migration.

To support Ethereum-Camp interoperability in a secure manner, Camp Network uses Decentralized Verifier Network (DVN), powered by the native token CAMP for the purpose of staking within the CAMP Vault.

Moreover, each dApp runs its own SideCAMP in order to avoid traffic congestion. And because SideCAMPs support different runtime environments, different ecosystems can onboard the Camp ecosystem. This blockchain network interoperability is extremely important for Camp Network to gain traction, ensuring that content maintains its traceable origins across chains.

CAMP Tokenomics

Having launched relatively recently in late August 2025, there are 10 billion CAMP tokens available to secure and monetize the network, of which 2.1 billion are in circulation. Early backers hold the most tokens, at 29%.

For ecosystem and foundation, 3% of CAMP tokens are unlocked at token generation events (TGE) each. The remaining tokens are vested monthly over 60 months for the purpose of supporting airdrops, grants, staking rewards, and community engagement. In many ways, these yield-style incentives mirror the recurring payouts investors receive from dividend stocks, but in a decentralized, blockchain-native form.

Protocol developers gain CAMP tokens gradually over 4 years after a 1-year initial waiting period. Likewise, after waiting for one year, early backers gain a 2-year period of linear vesting to three years total.

The Bottom Line

Following early October’s crypto crash, now is a good time to consider investing in assets that are likely to gain merit-based traction. Alongside Ethereum, Camp Network belongs in this consideration category, at least to watch for CAMP’s future airdrop campaigns.

At the end of the line, Camp Network addresses a fast-growing problem of AI devouring data without giving anything in return. One could even see Google’s AI Overview eroding website traffic, as it summarizes different websites for user queries.

By embedding royalty and usage logic at the protocol layer, Camp Network ensures digital content is transformed into verifiable, monetizable assets. And the longer we are in the AI era, the longer the demand for transparent, on-chain provenance and automated compensation will grow.