Canary Capital Proposes Staked INJ ETF Amid Crypto ETF Filing Spree

Canary Capital, a New York-based fund group, has proposed a new product offering exposure to the native token of the Injective blockchain. This latest move is part of Canary's ongoing filing spree for crypto ETFs, which has seen the company propose a variety of products in recent months. The Canary Staked INJ ETF, as it is called, would hold INJ directly and stake a portion of the assets it holds, according to a filing submitted to the SEC on Thursday. However, the filing did not specify the amount it would stake or the staking provider.

The Injective layer-1 blockchain is designed to allow developers to create financial applications. INJ, the native token of the Injective blockchain, has a market capitalization of roughly $1.3 billion, ranking it 89th largest among crypto assets. Canary Capital, founded by former Valkyrie CIO Steven McClurg, has filed for a number of crypto ETFs in recent months, including those that would hold litecoin (LTC), solana (SOL), XRP, HBAR and Sui (SUI).

Canary also filed for a PENGU ETF, which would hold both the Pudgy Penguins token and NFTs, as the Digital Asset Summit was taking place in March. Executives noted at the time that while the SEC, under a new chair and with its crypto task force, is more willing to actively engage about products, the numerous altcoin ETF filings aren’t necessarily a sign issuers are being told they have a good shot. A person close to the altcoin ETF filings, who was granted anonymity to discuss non-public information, said that the SEC might wait to develop “generic listing standards” before greenlighting any more single-asset crypto ETFs.

Injective Labs, in a July 9 letter to SEC commissioner Hester Peirce, made several recommendations to the agency’s crypto task force. Injective CEO Eric Chen said he would be closely monitoring the crypto bills Congress is considering. “With the CLARITY Act, basically what happens is we get to iterate extremely quickly because there’s no more [ambiguity] when it comes to the different profile design [or] different decentralization design that might create compliance issues,” Chen said. Regularity clarity would help Injective form a “very predictable growth plan,” he added — particularly as the blockchain looks to bring liquidity and use cases to real-world assets within the Injective ecosystem.

Chen noted that one of the biggest problems right now within the RWA ecosystem is that it’s pretty much a certificate of ownership that’s recorded on a blockchain with no mobility or real on-chain utility — or very limited, to that extent. The breadth of assets to be democratized will be what “truly shines” as the RWA space evolves, the Injective CEO explained. Chen noted: “Finding liquidity, congregating capital and finding an investor base on a very scarcely traded asset or an exotic asset and then being able to locate them and create capital formation all across the world … [is] the most exciting part.”