Injective

Injective offers an open interoperable blockchain platform for building and launching decentralized applications such as exchanges, derivatives, prediction markets, and options. The platform is built using Cosmos SDK and uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. It also provides traditional finance infrastructure and is interoperable with layer 1s, including Ethereum, Evmos, Axelar, and Moonbeam. The protocol operates as a DAO, which is governed and secured by its native token INJ. As of May 2024, the platform had processed over 612 million transactions.

The platform upgraded its mainnet in July 2022, introducing a multichain smart contract layer that can be executed automatically at every block. This enables users to migrate dApps from other blockchains onto Injective. It went on to launch a major upgrade to its mainnet, named Volan, in January 2024. The upgrade features a software module dedicated to real-world assets (RWAs) to enable users to launch and access a range of structured products including tokenized fiat currency pairs, treasury bills, and credit products. Moreover, the upgrade also includes improved integration with the inter-blockchain communication (IBC) protocol to allow for better interoperability between Injective and other chains in the Cosmos ecosystem.

Key customers and partnerships

In March 2024, the company partnered with DojoSwap, a decentralized exchange built on its blockchain infrastructure, to introduce the CW-404 standard, a replica of the experimental token standard ERC-404, for its network. The new standard combines the CW-20 and CW-721 standards (which relate to token issuance and NFTs, respectively) and enables multiple wallets to directly own an NFT and tokenize their exposure to take out loans or stake holdings.

In June 2024, Injective partnered with Andromeda, a Web3 operating system provider, to integrate the latter’s operating system with its blockchain and ecosystem of decentralized applications (dApps). The partnership aims to accelerate the adoption of DeFi across Andromeda’s user base, and unlock opportunities for cross-chain tokens and tokenized asset management within a unified trading platform.

Funding and financials

In August 2022, Injective raised USD 40 million in a funding round led by Jump Crypto to support Injective developers, build critical toolkits, and support software systems and upgrades to strengthen its ecosystem.

In January 2024, Injective launched a USD 150 million fund ecosystem initiative backed by investors such as Pantera, Jump, Kraken Ventures, KuCoin Ventures, Delphi Labs, and Flow Traders. The company planned to deploy the pooled capital over “a few years” to support Injective or Cosmos-based projects in the interoperability, DeFi, trading, proof-of-stake infrastructure, and scalability solutions segments.