Whales Grab $50M of Chainlink’s LINK as Price Climbs 40% in a Month
One of crypto’s hottest narratives – the tokenization of real-world assets – has sparked a nearly 40% jump in the price of Chainlink’s {{LINK}} over the past 30 days, with some crypto wallets apparently picking up over $50 million worth of the tokens.
On-chain analysis tool Lookonchain said one large investor, colloquially known as a “whale,” withdrew 2.7 million LINK tokens from crypto exchange Binance using 49 new wallets in that period, while the price climbed to a 22-month high and market cap touched $10 billion.
One of the wallets has transferred more than $9 million in LINK tokens from the exchange in the past 10 days, Lookonchain said. A public database created by the firm shows the wallets hold anywhere from $230,000 to $3.5 million in LINK each.
CoinDesk was unable to verify whether the wallets belong to a single owner. They are not labeled as linked to any particular custodian service or exchange on tracking applications Akrham and CryptoQuant.
Bullish drivers
In January, analysts at K33 Research said LINK was “the safest way to profit” from the ever-strengthening tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) narrative. Tokenization allows assets like gold, stocks, and real estate to be represented and traded as digital tokens on a blockchain. According to Boston Consultancy Group, tokenized RWAs could be worth $16 trillion by 2030.
Last month, Chainlink connected its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) with stablecoin company Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) to make it easy for users to transfer the USDC stablecoin across chains. The deal allows developers to build cross-chain applications involving Circle’s USDC, including payments and other DeFi interactions, further boosting LINK’s fundamentals.
The dollar value locked in open futures contracts tied to LINK has more than doubled to a record $520 million in the past few months, according to data source CoinGlass. In cryptocurrency terms, open interest has surged 62% to nearly 30 million LINK.
An increase in open interest represents an influx of new money into the market. A rise in price alongside growth in open interest is said to confirm the trend.
LINK prices fell 3.3% to $18.43 in the past 24 hours, Coingecko data shows. Bitcoin was little changed as traders likely took some profits from the price bumps.
Bitcoin Tops $44K, With Whale Accumulation Suggesting Conviction in More Price Gains
BTC broke above $44,000 for the first time since Jan. 12, the day after the spot ETF debuts.
Bitcoin addresses with over 1,000 BTC grew significantly over the past two weeks, one analyst noted.
Bitcoin {{BTC}} surged Wednesday over $44,000 to a fresh four-week high amid increased BTC accumulation by large holders and new all-time highs in U.S. equity indices.
The largest and oldest crypto by market value rose from $42,700 earlier in the day to as much as $44,300, its highest price since Jan. 12, the day after spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) began trading in the U.S.
Bitcoin’s 2.5% advance over the past 24 hours is pacing the CoinDesk 20’s 1.6% gain over the same time frame. Ether {{ETH}} is among other upside movers, ahead 2.3%. Lagging is Cardano {{ADA}} with a 0.4% decline.
Bitfinex analysts pointed out earlier this week that increased selling by miners could have been a reason why BTC prices were pressured recently. However, an opposite dynamic today may have overwhelmed sellers.
Crypto analyst Ali Martinez noted in a X post Wednesday that bitcoin whales – large investors – increased their asset accumulation. The number of bitcoin wallets holding over 1,000 tokens (roughly $44 million) rose to a multi-month high of 73, said Martinez, citing Glassnode data.
Continuing advances for U.S. stock markets also likely supported risk assets like crypto, with S&P 500 closing at a record high just shy of the 5,000 level, The Dow Jones Industrial Average was just a few ticks from it all-time high, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite continued to close in on its record.
Concerns about the health of regional bank New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) appeared to ease, with shares erasing big early day losses and closing higher by 6.7%. The lender late Tuesday issued a statement to calm market participants about its liquidity and deposit stability after rating agency Moody’s downgraded its credit to junk grade.
Ether leads altcoin gains on ETF optimism
Ethereum’s ether {{ETH}} gain took it above $2,400 for the first time in two weeks on rejuvenated spot ETF optimism.
Earlier in the day, asset managers Ark Invest and 21Shares amended their joint application to allow cash creations, bringing it more aligned with the recently approved spot bitcoin ETFs to perhaps preemptively appease regulators. The updated filing also tentatively opened the possibility of staking some of the fund’s tokens to earn rewards.
Ether-adjacent tokens such as scaling network Polygon’s MATIC, Optimism’s OPT, Arbitrum’s ARB advanced 2%-4%, while liquid staking protocol Lido’s LDO jumped 5%.
