The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has submitted a proposal to list shares of Canary Capital’s planned staked Injective exchange-traded fund (ETF), marking another step forward for regulated crypto investment products in the U.S.
According to a Cointelegraph report, the CBOE’s 19b-4 filing, submitted on Monday, follows Canary Capital’s S-1 application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last Thursday for a fund based on staked Injective tokens.
The proposed ETF seeks to generate staking rewards by providing validation services through an “approved staking platform.”
If approved, it would become the third staked altcoin ETF in the U.S., following the SEC’s approval of staked Solana and staked Ether ETFs on June 30.
The filing comes amid a more favorable regulatory climate under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which has shown support for innovation in crypto-based investment products.
The SEC has not yet formally acknowledged the ETF applications submitted by Canary Capital and the Cboe. Once acknowledged, the agency will set key deadlines for an initial decision, typically within 30 to 45 days—placing the first potential response in early September.
However, the SEC’s full review process can take up to 240 days, meaning a final decision on the staked INJ ETF may not arrive until March 2026.
A pivotal SEC decision in May helped pave the way for such products by determining that staking does not violate securities laws. Alison Mangiero, head of staking policy at the Crypto Council for Innovation, called the ruling a “major step forward” for the U.S. crypto sector.
“The SEC has now recognized what we’ve long argued: Staking is a core part of how modern blockchains operate, not an investment contract,” Mangiero told Cointelegraph, emphasizing that this regulatory clarity is “critical” for the industry.
INJ could benefit from ETF inflows
If approved, Canary Capital’s ETF would offer traditional investors exposure to the Injective protocol’s governance token, potentially boosting both liquidity and visibility for the asset.
The influx of capital from ETF investors could help the utility token regain momentum toward its previous all-time high of $52, set on March 14, 2024. However, the token remains down more than 71% from that peak, currently trading at $15.10, according to available data.
In February 2024, following the approval of the first U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, inflows from these funds accounted for approximately 75% of new investment in Bitcoin as its price surged past $50,000.
However, the market response to Ethereum’s spot ETF has been more muted.
Ether’s price dropped more than 38% in the two weeks following the launch of spot ETFs in the U.S., falling from $3,441 on July 23 to a local low of $2,116 by August 5, before beginning to recover, according to TradingView data.
Much of the selling pressure stemmed from outflows in Grayscale’s Ether ETF (ETHE), which remains the only Ether ETF with negative net flows. To date, the fund has seen over $4.3 billion in net outflows, according to data from Farside Investors.
