Crypto for Advisors: The blockchain built to run financial markets

Happy Thursday, advisors!

In today’s newsletter, Josh Olszewicz from Canary Capital breaks down Injective, from the trading infrastructure in its base layer to its push into tokenized assets and the token burns behind $INJ.

Then, in “Ask an Expert,” Kieran Mitha explains why advisors should watch the infrastructure taking shape, whatever they think of the token.

Happy reading.

- Sarah Morton

Injective builds financial markets into its blockchain

Most layer-1 blockchains are neutral platforms that leave developers to build market infrastructure themselves. Injective takes the opposite approach, building core financial plumbing directly into the base layer. As traditional assets move onchain, that choice makes it a useful case study in whether specialized infrastructure can compete with general-purpose networks.

Founded in 2018 by Eric Chen and Albert Chon, Injective began as a decentralized derivatives venue and has grown into a financial layer-1 supporting spot and derivatives markets, lending, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets.

A blockchain built around markets

On networks such as Ethereum and Solana, exchanges typically deploy their own contracts for order handling and settlement, splitting liquidity across applications. Injective provides these functions at the protocol level, including a native onchain order book, the market structure used by traditional exchanges, plus shared modules for derivatives, oracles and token issuance. Its proof-of-stake consensus, built on CometBFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerant), delivers near-instant finality, block times of roughly 620 milliseconds and average fees around 0.17 cents.

Its Multi-Virtual-Machine (MultiVM) architecture lets native modules, WebAssembly contracts and, since November 2025, a native Ethereum Virtual Machine run over shared state, so Ethereum developers can bring existing code without rebuilding. Connections to Cosmos chains via Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC), to Ethereum and to Solana aim to make Injective connective tissue for liquidity scattered across networks.

Real-world assets and institutional adoption

Tokenization is where that infrastructure meets a larger market. In August 2026, Injective Institutional Services became an SEC-registered transfer agent, giving it a recognized role in maintaining official securities ownership records. Injective Mint, launched in July 2026, lets issuers enforce holder restrictions, jurisdictional controls and redemption permissions.

Early use cases span several corners of finance. Pineapple Financial has moved more than $1 billion in mortgage records onchain; POSCO International and LG CNS are piloting tokenized trade receivables; and through Libre, Injective offers access to tokenized funds associated with BlackRock, Hamilton Lane and Nomura’s Laser Digital, including private credit. Tokenized assets that trade and settle on Injective generate fees, linking this activity to $INJ.

Injective is a useful example of how blockchain technology is becoming more specialized, particularly around financial services. Advisors don’t need to become experts in every network, but understanding what these projects are trying to solve is a good starting point for more informed conversations with clients.

— Kieran Mitha, marketing coordinator

Keep Reading

• The New York Stock Exchange announces it will use the Avalanche blockchain network exclusively to settle tokenized stocks on its upcoming 24/7 trading platform, targeting a fourth quarter launch pending regulatory approval.
• Goldman Sachs, Citi among banks said to commit $270 million to stablecoin venture.
• Coinbase receives full Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) trust bank approval, converting its provisional charter to a full national trust bank charter, allowing it to offer federally regulated custody and payment services in the U.S.

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