No.259
Initia INIT
the weaver that keeps a hundred small chains threaded to one loom
🎭 a tidy spider-architect who would rather connect a new web than let any thread dangle alone
💬 “Most chains are islands. I build mine on threads instead. Spin a new rollup, hook it to the loom, and the liquidity that lived on the others can still walk right over. Nothing I weave gets stranded.”
- What it is: one Cosmos-built Layer 1 plus a network of customizable rollups called Minitias, all kept connected on purpose.
- The twist: builders pick their engine (MoveVM, EVM, or CosmWasm), and Enshrined Liquidity turns staking into supplying liquidity.
- Who made it: founded 2022 by Initia Labs, built largely by former Terra (LUNA) and Cosmos developers. INIT went live in April 2025.
- Supply: capped at 1 billion INIT, but rewards keep unlocking from reserves on a schedule, so the circulating amount rises over time.
📖 The Story
2022. A small team called Initia Labs started with a complaint that anyone in modular crypto had heard before. New app-chains and rollups were easy to spin up, but each one tended to wall itself off, fragmenting its users and its money from everyone else. The founders, Stanford ‘Stan’ Liu and Ezaan ‘Zon’ Mangalji, had both worked on smart contracts and research at Terraform Labs, the company behind Terra (LUNA). After Terra's collapse, much of that engineering talent scattered, and a chunk of it regrouped here.
Their answer was to stop treating chains as islands. Initia is built as one base layer with a web of rollups hanging off it, and the whole point is that the strands stay tied together. A piece of plumbing they call the Interwoven Stack carries messages and bridging between the layers, and a shared liquidity scheme keeps money flowing across the network instead of pooling in one corner.
The project came out of stealth in October 2023 with backing from Binance Labs, then raised a $7.5 million seed round in early 2024 led by Delphi and Hack VC. After several testnet phases, the INIT token launched on April 24, 2025, alongside the live mainnet and a Binance Launchpool listing. It is technically nothing to do with the old Terra chain or the LUNA token, but in spirit it reads like a next chapter written by the same hands.
📊 Stats
These bands are our editorial read of the project's character, not market data or a price call.
🧩 How it works
Picture a loom in the middle and webs hanging off it. The loom is the Initia L1, a base chain built with the Cosmos SDK and secured by CometBFT, a Tendermint-style proof-of-stake setup. It handles validators, governance, and final settlement. The webs are the Minitias, customizable rollups (a kind of Layer 2) where the actual apps live. A builder gets to pick the engine per rollup, MoveVM, EVM, or CosmWasm, so they can use the smart-contract style they already know.
The cleverest part is how the chain pays for its own security. Instead of plain staking, Initia uses Enshrined Liquidity: users supply approved liquidity pairs that help secure the network and, in return, collect staking rewards, trading fees, and ecosystem incentives. A separate program called VIP steers extra incentives toward the apps and people who actually use the chains. The idea is that the money keeping the network safe is the same money making it useful.
🌗 Light & Shadow
- Solves a real headache: instead of every app-chain becoming a lonely island, Minitias stay connected and bridgeable by default
- Builders aren't boxed in, they can choose MoveVM, EVM, or CosmWasm per rollup (so existing teams keep their tools)
- Enshrined Liquidity ties security to useful liquidity, and a seasoned team of ex-Terra and Cosmos engineers is behind it
- Very young. The token only went live in April 2025, so its track record is short and its ecosystem still has to prove it can attract real apps
- The 1 billion cap is fixed, but rewards keep unlocking from reserves (roughly 5%/yr from staking and 7%/yr from VIP early on), so holders face years of rising supply
- The Terra-alumni roots cut both ways: deep experience, but also a heritage that ended in one of crypto's worst collapses, which invites extra scrutiny
🧬 Evolution lineage
Initia is not a fork of anything. It's a Cosmos-family Layer 1 (Cosmos SDK + CometBFT + IBC), so its technical relatives are chains like Cosmos, Celestia, and Injective. Its human lineage, though, runs straight back to Terra: built by ex-Terraform Labs engineers, a Terra-alumni next chapter, even if the chain and the LUNA token are unrelated.
🧭 Meet other friends
❓ FAQ
- What is Initia?
- A modular blockchain. It runs one base Layer 1 built with the Cosmos SDK and ties it to a family of customizable rollups called Minitias. The goal is that many app-chains can launch and still stay connected, instead of each one becoming its own island.
- What are Minitias?
- Minitias are the Layer 2 rollups that hang off the Initia L1. A builder picks the engine they like, MoveVM, EVM, or CosmWasm, and launches their own chain. The Interwoven Stack and IBC keep it threaded back to the L1 for messaging, bridging, and data feeds.
- What is Enshrined Liquidity?
- Initia's twist on staking. Instead of just locking up plain INIT, users supply approved liquidity pairs to help secure the chain, and in return they earn staking rewards, trading fees, and ecosystem incentives. Security and useful liquidity end up being the same job.
- How many INIT tokens are there?
- The maximum is fixed at 1 billion INIT. About 148.75 million were circulating at launch in April 2025, and rewards keep unlocking from set-aside reserves on a schedule, so the circulating amount climbs over the years even though the cap never moves.
- Where can I buy INIT?
- INIT went live in April 2025 alongside a Binance Launchpool listing, and it trades on several major exchanges. It is young and moves a lot, so only try a small amount for fun. (Information only, not an exchange or investment recommendation.)
⚠️ Not investment advice. All figures are for information only.