Today I sat down to review the on-chain derivatives data, just skimming through a few charts for fun to see how the major ecosystems are shifting. But the more I looked and read through a few threads, the more I found the question suddenly becoming more interesting than I thought: Can Injective surpass Base or Arbitrum in the derivatives space?
@Injective #injective $INJ

At first glance, it seems a bit loud. Base has the power of Coinbase behind it, and users are increasing rapidly. Arbitrum almost dominates DeFi with the highest TVL and deepest liquidity among L2s. But derivatives are a very different game. It is not a community race, nor an incentive race, but a purely technical race: speed, latency, order processing capability, reliability, and the openness of the infrastructure.

And looking at Injective from this perspective, I suddenly feel… it’s not weak at all. In fact, in some aspects, it stands ahead of both.

There were times I simply compared it like this: Base is strong because of user-flow speed and social narrative. Arbitrum is strong due to its dense DeFi ecosystem, many builders, and high liquidity. But both rely on EVM as a foundational layer. This isn't bad. However, EVM was never designed for high-speed order books; it was never intended to handle orders in real-time.

This is the point where Injective is completely different. It doesn't try to 'temporarily borrow' EVM to patch things up. It rewrites the infrastructure in the way a specialized chain must. And this makes me think Injective has a real chance in the derivatives race – a chance much wider than many think.

When experiencing Helix – Injective's native derivatives exchange – I feel like I'm using a CEX version but completely on-chain. Orders match instantly. No heavy delays. No EVM-style block latency. This feeling is extremely important with derivatives because just a 200–300ms delay can make traders move elsewhere.

Many people often say, 'L2 is fast now,' but the truth is that L2 speeds are still constrained by batch processing, sequencing, block finality, and core EVM barriers. Injective is not bound by those constraints. It was created to run order books, meaning it is optimized from the ground up for low latency and high throughput.

And with derivatives, latency is almost paramount.

Not fast → no one trades.

Not stable → no one leaves money for long.

No ability for continuous order processing → cannot become a liquidity center.

Injective hits the right focus.

One point where I think Injective has a clear advantage is how it 'modularizes' derivatives. Base and Arbitrum can both run perpetuals, options, synthetic – but the protocols built on them always face the limitations of EVM: order matching must go through a common smart contract, there’s no separate matching engine layer, and financial logic must be 'framed' within ABI.

Injective creates an environment where builders can define the derivatives market themselves with a CEX-like structure: separate order book, separate matching logic, separate oracle, separate risk model, and everything is natively on-chain. A developer wanting to create a virtual FX market, or a commodities market, or a custom index – just needs a few lines of config.

This freedom is something I find very hard for Base or Arbitrum to keep up with – unless they rewrite their infrastructure, which is almost impossible.

Interestingly, Injective is not only optimized for speed; it is also optimized for transparency. Every order, every liquidity change, every funding update is on-chain. This intrigues me because it's something that funds specializing in trading derivatives really appreciate – they want to see clearly the environment they're trading in, rather than relying on the backend of a protocol that's half CeFi and half DeFi.

A professional trader needs two things:

seeing the real market,

and is sure the system is not fraudulent.

Injective provides both.

But the story isn't just about technology. It's also about market behavior. The truth is that derivatives tend to flow to the 'best place,' not to where the community is larger or more reputable. Wherever the speed is higher, fees are lower, and the model is more open – traders will move there. I've seen this happen many times between CEXs, and the likelihood of it happening on-chain is just as high.

Injective is increasingly attracting many new derivatives protocols. At first, I thought it was just a few experimental projects, but after a few months of looking back, the number of derivative products on Injective has steadily increased, quietly but consistently. It’s not following the 'quick boom and bust' pattern, but rather growing steadily – like a financial layer built in the right direction.

Base is strong in socialFi, memecoins, retail apps.

Arbitrum is strong in lending, EVM perpetuals.

Injective is strong in native orderbook derivatives.

Each chain has its own identity, but Injective has an advantage that the other two chains find hard to reach: specialization. A chain designed from the ground up to serve a specific type of application will maximize its strengths in that area.

The question of 'Can Injective surpass Base or Arbitrum in derivatives?' actually depends on three things: speed, market scalability, and the trustworthiness of builders.

Injective is fast.

Injective has the infrastructure to easily create new markets.

Injective can prove everything on-chain.

Injective has a very serious builder community – not flashy but very deep.

The only thing Injective lacks compared to Base and Arbitrum is a massive retail user base. But the derivatives space doesn't need millions of users. It needs quality users. It needs real players, real trades, real markets, real liquidity.

And those people are starting to look at Injective with a different perspective – the perspective of 'this place can run long-term strategies.'

Sitting here typing, I feel that Injective doesn't need to 'surpass' Base or Arbitrum in a comprehensive manner. It just needs to dominate the derivatives space – the space that aligns best with its DNA. And when considering this niche alone, Injective has a very strong chance of becoming the best chain, as it builds exactly what the derivatives market needs most: real speed, specialized architecture, and the ability to create new markets without being limited by EVM.

I hope this article helps you see more clearly which direction the derivatives race is shifting.