Injective (INJ): how it works, supply and reviews
In short
- Type
- Layer-1 blockchain for finance with a fully on-chain order book exchange module
- Circulation
- Injective states that all INJ is in circulation, with no future unlocks or vesting
- Risks and caveats
- New INJ is minted as block rewards, so net supply depends on how much is burned through the buyback.
- Checked
- 31 October 2026
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Key facts
- Ticker
- INJ
- Official site
- injective.com
Key facts checked on 31 October 2026 against official sources.
What is Injective
Injective is a layer-1 blockchain built for financial applications, with a native on-chain order book, EVM and WebAssembly smart contracts and cross-chain links to IBC networks and Ethereum. INJ is its native token for fees, staking and governance.
Network and consensus
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Layer-1 blockchain for finance with a fully on-chain order book exchange module |
| Consensus | Proof of stake on a custom Tendermint (CometBFT) implementation; Cosmos SDK modules |
| Block time | About 650 ms per block, with instant finality (figures as of April 2026) |
| Smart contracts | Yes: EVM (Solidity) and WebAssembly (CosmWasm, Rust) in one network |
| Interoperability | Connected to 110+ IBC networks and Ethereum |
| Launched | Canonical mainnet on 8 November 2021 (Proposal #65), after the Canary Chain phase |
Supply and issuance
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Circulation | Injective states that all INJ is in circulation, with no future unlocks or vesting |
| Staking rewards | Validators are rewarded with newly minted INJ (block rewards) plus part of transaction fees |
| Burn | A monthly Community Buyback burns the INJ committed by participants; it replaced the weekly Burn Auction |
| Supply policy | INJ 3.0 (IIP-392, April 2024) tightened the supply schedule, tied to the share of INJ staked |
What INJ is used for
- Paying all transaction fees (gas) on Injective
- Staking with validators to secure the network
- Proposing and voting in on-chain governance
- Margin and collateral in derivatives markets
Who develops and governs Injective
- Governance
- On-chain, token-weighted voting by staked INJ (1 INJ = 1 vote)
- Proposals
- A proposal needs a 10 INJ deposit to submit and 100 INJ in total to reach voting
- Smart contract uploads
- Permissioned: stakers must vote to allow a contract on mainnet
- Foundation
- Injective Foundation publishes injective.com
- Developer
- Injective Labs maintains the documentation and the GitHub organisation
History
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 29 April 2020 | Injective is introduced as a decentralized derivatives exchange protocol built on Tendermint. |
| 8 November 2021 | The Injective Canonical Chain mainnet goes live, enabling unrestricted transfers and trading. |
| 8 November 2021 | Weekly buy-back-and-burn of 60% of protocol fees is introduced. |
| 23 April 2024 | INJ 3.0 tokenomics upgrade is approved through IIP-392. |
| 21 August 2024 | Performance upgrades bring average block time to about 0.65 seconds. |
Security and audits
- Staked INJ, including delegated INJ, can be slashed if a validator acts maliciously or fails its duties.
- Exchange matching uses frequent batch auctions, which Injective describes as resistant to front-running (MEV).
Security incidents
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 31 August 2026 | Exploit: Injective said an exploit affected a small number of ecosystem applications operating binary options markets and that it was isolated to those applications, not the Injective blockchain, protocol, native assets or consensus; contributors coordinated an accelerated network upgrade (release v1.20.3-safeharbor.1, published 31 August 2026) that took longer than expected, some validators were temporarily jailed and some exchanges temporarily disabled deposits and withdrawals. Injective did not state an amount; it called reports of a chain exploit or halt inaccurate. Funds returned: Not stated by Injective; it said no staked INJ were lost or at risk. | x.com |
Further incidents are reported by third parties (press, incident databases) but are not confirmed in the company’s own channels, so they are not listed here.
Risks and caveats
- New INJ is minted as block rewards, so net supply depends on how much is burned through the buyback.
- Undelegating staked INJ takes 21 days, and delegated INJ can be slashed together with its validator.
- Performance figures are self-reported and may change with market movements and usage.
Official links
- Website: injective.com
- Docs: docs.injective.network
- Source code: github.com/InjectiveLabs
- Token page: injective.com/inj
- Blog: injective.com/blog
Questions and answers
What is Injective?
Injective is a proof-of-stake layer-1 blockchain for finance with an on-chain order book, EVM and WebAssembly contracts and IBC and Ethereum connectivity.
What is INJ used for?
INJ pays all transaction fees, is staked to secure the network, is used to vote on governance proposals and can serve as derivatives collateral.
What is the supply of INJ?
Injective's public LCD endpoint reported a total supply of about 123.55 million INJ on 31 October 2026; staking rewards mint INJ and the monthly buyback burns it.
When did Injective mainnet launch?
The Injective Canonical Chain mainnet went live on 8 November 2021 after governance Proposal #65.
How long does unstaking INJ take?
Undelegating INJ from a validator takes 21 days.
Sources
- Injective Docs — About
- Injective Docs — INJ coin
- Injective Docs — Staking
- Injective Docs — Governance
- Injective Docs — Community Buyback
- Injective Docs — Public endpoints
- Injective — INJ token
- Injective — MultiVM
- Injective blog — Canonical Chain mainnet release
- Injective blog — INJ 3.0
- Injective blog — Introducing Injective
- Injective blog — A new era of Injective: limitless scale
- Injective LCD — INJ total supply
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