𝕸𝖗. 𝕻𝖎𝖕𝖙𝖔𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖎𝖓🔗

Today, Injective made history by ringing the opening bell at Nasdaq to celebrate the launch of the $INJ Staked ETF, becoming one of the only crypto assets to have an official U.S. listed ETF. A few years ago Injective was just an idea. I remember my first day in the middle of COVID in 2020 sharing one desk in a coworking space with @ericinjective because that’s all we could afford. We took effectively zero salary while working 18 hour shifts. No one around me understood exactly why I would dive headfirst into such uncharted waters in an industry that seemed doomed to fail according to all the tech and mainstream pundits. Our goal of creating a blockchain just for finance was so outlandish that fundraising became a literal nightmare. It couldn't be done, too complex, too many variables and not enough upside in an already crowded field of crypto competitors according to the VCs. But through all the struggle and pain, I knew with the family I found here at Injective I could achieve anything. Despite the bad press that seemed to surround crypto, draconian regulations designed to impede our progress, massive hacks in the industry and the downfall of once lauded companies, Injective survived it all. And over time we found others who started to believe in our vision. Slowly but surely, we built a massive coalition of users, traders, builders, institutions and everyday people who believed in bringing financial freedom to all through the tech we were building. We brought major funds to our corner from Binance all the way to legendary entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban. And what was once just an idea being built by a few crazy kids in the middle of COVID became not just a unicorn but an absolute force in the blockchain industry that would redefine what the internet economy can look like in the 21st century. Today, we have built a team of 70 of the smartest and hardest working people I have ever come across. We have reached millions of new users and community members. We have brought some of the world's largest banks, enterprises and financial institutions onchain with global giants like Google Cloud and LG joining our ecosystem. We have brought billions of dollars in tokenized real world assets to our chain. We also overcame years of regulatory hurdles and today have become the first layer 1 blockchain ecosystem with an SEC registered transfer agent, enabling us to lead the new era of tokenized markets. And we're now working at the absolute frontier of the next era of finance. From tokenization and real world assets to institutional grade infrastructure and the emerging onchain agentic economy, we're building the foundations for an entirely new financial system. More than anything else, Injective has taught me that the only limit to what you can achieve in this life is your own inner drive. And anything worth achieving was never meant to be easy. I will forever be grateful for this opportunity to play a role in this journey. My team and I will not rest until we have truly created a new financial system that democratizes real financial opportunity for all. Our best days are still ahead of us. We have an entire financial system to change and we're only getting started 🥷