If you think Injective’s move is “already priced in,” think again. With the Ethernia mainnet upgrade live — introducing native EVM deployment within its MultiVM setup — the market hasn’t really reacted. INJ sits around $5.5, market cap near $550M, and the chain currently feels like it’s coasting rather than gearing up. On DefiLlama, bridged TVL is ~$19M, DEX volume ~$790k/day, and perps volume ~$23.8M, down sharply week-over-week.
Why it matters 🚀
EVM support isn’t just hype it’s a magnet for liquidity, tools, and devs. Ethernia is designed as the gateway: the Hyperdrive EVM rollout, beta permissions, and UX improvements might seem minor but standardize human-readable values across modules — a massive usability upgrade.
My perspective 👀
Injective aims to be the go-to chain for finance apps — mixing its CLOB/perps history with an EVM environment familiar to Solidity teams. Even a small cluster of sticky products (perps front-ends, stablecoin rails, structured strategies, RWAs, yield routers) brings not just activity but fees, revenue, and reasons for holders to keep INJ beyond memes.
The overlooked lever: activity → supply reduction 🔥
The Community BuyBack program burns INJ proportional to protocol revenue. First burn: Oct 29, 2025. But cash flow is tiny now — daily chain revenue ~$3.4k — so burns aren’t yet market-moving.
Ethernia changes the game ✨
Solidity devs can deploy without rewriting for a foreign VM. Tools adapt quickly once adoption grows — Tenderly already integrated Injective’s EVM. Docs clarify chain IDs (1776 vs injective-1), avoiding RPC and wallet headaches. Think of it as adding a familiar entrance to a building: everything inside is the same, but now millions know the door.
Metrics that matter 📊
Forget hype. Track:
Does bridged TVL rise above ~$19M?
Is stablecoin liquidity growing?
Do perps volumes stabilize?
Does chain revenue exceed a few thousand $/day?
Risks ⚠️
Rollout pace: Ethernia is still permissioned/beta, so full unlock may take time.
Competition: EVM space is crowded; standout apps are needed.
Buybacks: Without activity, they stay cosmetic.
Bull case 🟢
Liquidity & stablecoins rise noticeably
Perps activity rebounds
Chain revenue grows enough for impactful buybacks
Bear case 🔴
Volumes keep dropping
TVL flat
Buybacks irrelevant
If activity scales, INJ could shift from “ignored L1” to a high-throughput finance chain, making double-digit prices feasible. Otherwise, manage risk, don’t chase upside.
