How to Get Started With Injective NFTs

TL;DR
Injective is a fast, interoperable blockchain that was designed primarily for decentralized finance, but which also has an emerging NFT ecosystem that’s been enjoying notable gains and has a lot of room to grow. The main Injective NFT marketplace, Talis, is distributing its own native token through multiple airdrops, and several of the top NFT collections–including Injective Quants and Aliens on Injective–also have plans to launch their own tokens.

It’s always good to get in on the ground floor when it comes to Web3, and the Injective NFT ecosystem is showing signs of heating up, with plenty of potential for further development. Let’s look at how to get started with Injective NFTs, and highlight some collections that may be worth picking up.

What is Injective?

Built with the Cosmos SDK, Injective is a Layer 1 PoS blockchain that says it’s “built for finance.” It’s efficient, provides infrastructure for building complex DeFi products, is highly interoperable, linking up easily with other networks, and it’s backed, famously, by Mark Cuban, along with Binance, Pantera and others.

However, Injective is not only about DeFi, as a thriving NFT ecosystem is emerging in parallel, sometimes crossing over with DeFi, and also–as is usually the case with NFTs–taking in art and gaming.

Wallets and INJ

The native token of Injective is called INJ, and it can be staked at Injective Hub, an interface at the center of the Injective ecosystem.

You need INJ to buy Injective NFTs, and you’ll need an Injective wallet, but that’s easy, as you can simply use MetaMask. Connect MetaMask to Injective Hub, and it will create an Injective wallet address corresponding to your connected MetaMask address.

Alternatively, you can set up Ninji, which is a browser-based INJ wallet with in-wallet staking, and other options include Keplr (the Cosmos wallet), and hardware wallets Ledger and Trezor.

You can then buy INJ with fiat on the Injective main site, or go to Injective Hub and bridge other crypto over. You can also trade INJ on Uniswap, and on major exchanges including Binance, Coinbase and Kucoin.

Marketplaces and Platforms

The main Injective NFT marketplace is called Talis. You can do all your buying and selling here, and it has a token, TALIS (which will be tradable on the Helix DEX), with multiple airdrops coming up, meaning it may be worth racking up some transactions now on the marketplace. Additionally, according to a post from Talis, staking INJ with the Talis Validator will earn TALIS rewards.

You can also find Injective NFTs on multi-chain marketplace Dagora, and there’s also the Cosmos terminal TFM. Adjacently, there are a couple of interesting looking platforms–Injlending and Injcasino–that have been created by the Aliens on Injective project (details on that below), and which are working on lending with NFTs as collateral, and on a crypto-based betting platform.

Injective NFT Collections

Here are some Injective NFT collections that have been making moves and have good potential, including some with upcoming token launches.

The Ninjas

With a lot of engagement and acting as a community hub in the Injective NFT space, The Ninjas is an OG collection that first minted at 1.1 INJ back in June and is now selling from 44.5 INJ (around $1,160.) There’s no utility at the moment, as this one appears to be all about collectability and making connections.

Ninjaverse

Not to be confused with The Ninjas, there’s Ninjaverse, which has plans for a comic series and is dropping a memecoin called NINJA, with an allocation for NFT holders who staked at the Injstaking platform (which was built by Aliens on Injective.) It will be interesting to see where the project goes once the token is circulating, with NFTs currently at a floor price below 5 INJ.

Injective Quants

This one is all about the incoming QUNT coin, which is launching on the DeFi-focused platform Mito and will be made available to Quant NFT holders through a token-gated sale. The Injective Quants NFT collection (which contains 10K pixel art PFPs) has been picking up volume, and the floor price right now is just under 17 INJ.

Aliens on Injective

A collection designed with utility in mind, the Aliens on Injective team is also behind an NFT lending protocol (Injlending), a betting platform (Injcasino), an NFT staking platform (Injstaking), and an NFT launchpad (Injmarket). Aliens on Injective NFT holders can earn a share of revenue from these projects, there’s a token called AOI in the works, and there’s also a secondary collection, called Toxic Aliens.

INJ Boys

Another Injective collection with a token on the way, INJ Boys is making what it calls a staking game, the incoming token is called BOYS, and the project looks to be all about earning token rewards. That might or might not work long-term (there currently isn’t much to the plan beyond accumulating tokens), but for now at least, it’s gaining attention–and buyers–in the Injective NFT space.

Hobos

More pixel art PFPs, but the Hobos project stands out because it’s also building GetDropped, which is a platform promising to airdrop digital art collectibles. As with the other projects listed here, it’s early in development, and so it remains to be seen whether Hobos and GetDropped deliver the goods, but if they can, then they’ll be frontrunners when it comes to art NFTs on Injective.

The RugBerbs

Any Moonbirds holders out there might note that pixelated birds aren’t a new idea in the world of NFTs, but if you’re looking for pixelated birds on Injective, then RugBerbs is the project to check in with. It’s connected to a memecoin (BERB), makes no claims to greatness (the coin is, according to its creators, “pegged to zero”), but Rugberbs NFTs are currently trading at a floor price just over 18 INJ, and there are buyers snapping them up.