Canary Files for Staked Injective ETF as Interest in Altcoin Funds Grows

In brief

Canary has filed with the SEC to debut a staked Injective ETF.
INJ is the native token of Injective, a layer-1 blockchain.
The filing is one of several requests by issuers and exchanges to make crypto-based ETFs with staking available to U.S. investors.

Canary Capital applied for a staked Injective exchange-traded fund, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, further evidence of issuers efforts to address growing demand for altcoin-focused investment products.

The fund, if approved, would enable investors to track the price of layer-1 blockchain Injective’s native token, in addition to staking the altcoin. Staking is a process by which cryptocurrency holders “lock up” their assets to secure a network in exchange for rewards in the form of more tokens.

“As interest in staking-based products accelerates, this ETF aims to lower technical barriers and offer a compliant, secure entry point for a broader range of participants,” an Injective representative said Thursday in a statement.

Canary established a Delaware Trust last month to lay the legal groundwork for its staked Injective ETF.

This latest filing comes as issuers increasingly aim to incorporate staking into their crypto-based funds.

Asset managers, including 21Shares and Grayscale, are petitioning the SEC to add staking to some of their ETFs. And in June, the SEC seemed to give REX-Osprey the go-ahead to debut a pair of Ethereum and Solana ETFs with the yield-bearing feature.

Staking tokens is attractive to investors because it allows them to maximize their returns, Injective co-founder Eric Chen told Decrypt.

“Investors don’t lose out,” Chen said. “You’re earning yield from staking and at the same time you’re providing very critical service to support the Injective ecosystem.”

Canary is not the first asset manager to put staked INJ in an ETF wrapper. 21Shares debuted an AINJ exchange-traded product for European investors nearly a year ago.

But, this latest proposed fund will allow Injective to expand its reach.

Canary’s proposed fund “would not just interface with the U.S. investor base,” Chen said. “It also allows for the global investor base, both institutional and individuals, to have access to products related to Injective.”

Injective, the 88th largest crypto by market value, was recently trading at $13.84, up 3.7% over the past 24 hours, according to data provider CoinGecko.