Injective and 21Shares Introduce AINJ: A New Staking ETP

4 min readJul 22, 2024

Injective is happy to announce AINJ, a new Injective Staking Exchange-Traded Product (ETP) created by 21Shares. AINJ lets people gain exposure to INJ through traditional finance exchanges and brokerages while earning staking rewards. This launch is a big step in Injective’s goal to connect decentralized finance with traditional markets.

Partnering with 21Shares

AINJ is made by 21Shares, a top issuer of crypto ETPs. 21Shares has a strong history of working with big crypto projects, creating new financial products, and encouraging more institutional involvement in digital assets. They have been key players in the Bitcoin ETF efforts with Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest, managing over $3 billion in assets for this product alone. Their experience makes them a reliable partner for AINJ.

A Big Step for Institutional Adoption

The launch of AINJ is a big moment for institutions to adopt digital assets. It offers new ways for large entities to engage with Injective. This regulated and transparent product makes it easier for institutions to participate and is supported by top finance exchanges and brokerages like Interactive Brokers, Saxo Bank, Swissquote, and eToro.

What is ETP?

Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) are financial instruments traded on stock exchanges. They offer exposure to various assets without needing to own them directly. These assets can include stocks, bonds, commodities, and crypto assets. ETPs make it easy to have a diversified portfolio, combining the simplicity of stock trading with the benefits of mutual funds.

Types of ETPs

ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds): Track the performance of a specific index, sector, or commodity.
ETCs (Exchange Traded Commodities): Provide direct exposure to commodity prices, either tracking single commodities like gold or a basket of commodities.

Benefits of ETPs

Diversification: Spread risk across different sectors and asset classes.
Liquidity: Traded on stock exchanges, ETPs can be bought and sold throughout the trading day.
Transparency: ETPs show their holdings daily, giving clear insights into underlying assets.
Cost-Effectiveness: Generally, ETPs have lower expense ratios compared to mutual funds due to their passive management.

Structures of ETPs

Physical ETPs: Hold the actual underlying assets they track, ensuring a direct link with the asset and reducing counterparty risk. Digital assets, like those in AINJ, benefit from low storage costs, providing a direct connection to the underlying asset without high operational expenses.

Synthetic ETPs: Use financial derivatives to replicate the performance of underlying assets. These are usually more cost-efficient but come with higher counterparty default risk and complexity.

How AINJ Works

AINJ, offered by 21Shares, provides a unique way to gain exposure to INJ in a regulated environment, combining staking benefits with the convenience and efficiency of an ETP.

Staking Yields: AINJ captures the staking yields generated by staking INJ to secure the Injective network, reinvesting these rewards into the ETP.
100% Physically-Backed: Structured as a Physical ETP, AINJ is backed entirely by the underlying INJ and kept in cold storage by an institutional-grade custodian.
Regulated and Transparent: Operates within a regulated framework, ensuring clear and accessible transactions and holdings.
Convenience and Efficiency: Traded on stock exchanges, AINJ allows for easy buying and selling throughout the trading day.
Accessibility: Supported by 25 different banks and brokerages, AINJ trades on both the Euronext Amsterdam (AINJ NA) and Euronext Paris (AINJ FP).

Supporting Institutions

AINJ is supported by prominent institutions including:

Interactive Brokers (IBKR): Managing over $370 billion in assets, supporting 150 exchanges globally.
Saxo Bank: Serving over 1 million clients and supporting trading in over 40,000 financial instruments.
Swissquote: Managing assets worth over CHF 50 billion (~$55 billion) with a wide range of financial products.
eToro: With over 30 million users, eToro is renowned for its social trading features.

Conclusion

AINJ represents a big step in providing broader and more efficient access to INJ’s performance and staking rewards. By combining the benefits of physical backing and staking yields, AINJ offers a unique opportunity within a regulated and transparent framework. Supported by some of the largest banks and brokerages, AINJ shows Injective’s commitment to integrating with traditional financial markets while advancing the possibilities within decentralized finance.

About Injective

Injective is a fast, interoperable layer one blockchain optimized for building premier Web3 finance applications. It provides developers with powerful tools for creating unmatched dApps. INJ is the native asset that powers Injective and its rapidly growing ecosystem. Incubated by Binance, Injective is backed by prominent investors such as Jump Crypto, Pantera, and Mark Cuban.

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