Chainlink ( LINK ) Price Live Chart

What Is Chainlink (LINK)?

Established in 2017, Chainlink operates as a blockchain abstraction layer, facilitating universally connected smart contracts. Through its decentralized oracle network, Chainlink enables blockchains to securely interact with external data feeds, events, and payment methods. This provides the crucial off-chain information necessary for complex smart contracts to become the dominant form of digital agreement.

The Chainlink Network thrives on a vast open-source community encompassing data providers, node operators, smart contract developers, researchers, security auditors, and more. The project is committed to ensuring decentralized participation for all node operators and users seeking to contribute to the network's growth and functionality.

For a more in-depth understanding of this project, explore our comprehensive analysis of Chainlink.

Who Are the Founders of Chainlink?

Sergey Nazarov is a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Chainlink Labs. He holds a degree in business administration from New York University, with a focus on philosophy and administration. His professional journey began as a teaching fellow at NYU Stern School of Business. In 2009, Nazarov co-founded ExistLocal, a peer-to-peer marketplace for authentic local experiences.

In 2014, he also co-founded CryptaMail, a fully decentralized, blockchain-based email service. That same year, Nazarov partnered with Steve Ellis to launch SmartContract, a platform designed to bring smart contracts to life by connecting them to external data and widely accepted bank payments. SmartContract was a key entrepreneurial endeavor that paved the way for Sergey Nazarov to co-found Chainlink.

Steve Ellis graduated with a degree in computer science from New York University in 2010. Immediately after graduation, he joined Pivotal Labs as a software engineer. In 2014, he co-founded the Secure Asset Exchange, a company focused on providing easy web access to a decentralized asset exchange.

What Makes Chainlink Unique?

Chainlink distinguishes itself as one of the pioneering networks to enable the seamless integration of off-chain data into smart contracts. With a robust network of trusted partners, Chainlink has established itself as a major player in the data processing domain. This capability of incorporating off-chain data has garnered the attention of numerous reputable data providers, including Brave New Coin, Alpha Vantage, and Huobi. These data providers can directly monetize their information by selling access to their data feeds through the Chainlink network.

As a decentralized network, Chainlink empowers users to become node operators and earn revenue by maintaining the critical data infrastructure essential for the success of blockchains. Chainlink leverages a large and diverse collection of node operators to collectively power a wide array of decentralized Price Feed oracle networks that are currently live in production. These networks secure billions of dollars in value for leading DeFi applications such as Synthetix, Aave, and Compound.

How Will LINK Staking Function?

Currently, Chainlink has faced some criticism regarding its reliance on a limited number of trusted nodes, despite its efforts towards greater decentralization. However, the introduction of LINK staking aims to address this concern directly.

LINK staking will implement a system of rewards and penalties to incentivize the reliable and accurate operation of the Chainlink oracle network. It will also enhance the ability of node operators to receive tasks and earn fees within the Chainlink ecosystem.

In this proposed system, participants will lock up their LINK tokens as collateral. This collateral is subject to potential taxation or "slashing" if a node reports inaccurate data. The LINK tokens penalized from dishonest validators will be redistributed as earnings to validators who provide truthful and reliable data.

The developers behind Chainlink anticipate that the implementation of this crypto-economic security mechanism will significantly increase the cost of attempting to manipulate the network's price oracles, making it economically unviable for potential attackers. This strategy of incentivizing honest behavior through economic mechanisms is similar to the security models employed by established blockchain networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Furthermore, LINK holders who do not operate their own nodes will also have the opportunity to participate in staking by delegating their tokens to trusted node operators. Chainlink developers estimate that the initial staking program will offer an approximate 5% return, derived from a combination of emissions from the Treasury and fees paid by users of Chainlink's data feeds. The long-term goal is for the staking rewards to be solely funded by the fees earned by the network.

The participation of community members in staking will provide an additional layer of incentive for node operators to maintain honesty and accuracy. Participants will be able to choose where to delegate their stake based on reputation scores assigned to node operators who consistently provide valid data feeds.

How Many Chainlink (LINK) Coins Are There in Circulation?

During the initial coin offering (ICO) for LINK in September 2017, Chainlink announced a total and maximum supply of 1,000,000,000 LINK tokens. As of the end of September 2021, the circulating supply was approximately 453,509,553 LINK tokens, representing about 45% of the total supply. The Chainlink price at the ICO was $0.11, and a total of 350 million LINK tokens were sold. This represents a significant increase of over 200 times the ICO price to the current Chainlink price.

The Chainlink price experienced a substantial bull run from around mid-2019 to mid-2020. Enthusiastic Chainlink supporters were colloquially known as "LINK Marines," becoming a well-known meme within the cryptocurrency community. The Chainlink price reached an all-time high of $52.88 on May 9, 2021, fueled by an overall cryptocurrency market rally and ongoing positive developments within the Chainlink ecosystem.

According to the ICO documentation, 35% of the total token supply is allocated towards node operators and the incentivization of the ecosystem. Another 35% of LINK tokens were distributed during public sale events. The remaining 30% of the total token supply was allocated to the company for the continued development of the Chainlink ecosystem and network.

How Is the Chainlink Network Secured?

As an Ethereum-based ERC-20 token, Chainlink's security is underpinned by the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Unlike the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus used by Bitcoin, PoS relies on the amount of staked tokens to select node validators.

PoS protocols were developed with the aim of mitigating the significant energy consumption associated with PoW systems. PoS models are gaining increasing popularity due to their lower electricity requirements and greater scalability. While PoW has proven to be a reliable consensus mechanism, the rapid growth of Ethereum and other ERC-20 tokens has established PoS as a significant trend in the cryptocurrency space.

Where Can You Buy Chainlink (LINK)?

Chainlink and its native token, LINK, are among the most widely recognized and popular cryptocurrencies in the market. Consequently, a large number of cryptocurrency exchanges have moved to offer trading pairs for LINK. One prominent exchange for buying Chainlink is SunCrypto, you can trade LINK/INR and LINK/USDT in both pairings.

It is crucial to acknowledge that investing in cryptocurrency, like any other form of investment, carries inherent risks.

To view the live price of Chainlink in your preferred fiat currency, you can utilize CoinMarketCap's converter tool directly on the Chainlink currency page. Alternatively, you can use the dedicated exchange rate converter page. Popular Chainlink trading pairs include LINK/USD, LINK/GBP, LINK/AUD, and LINK/EUR.

You can find more detailed information on how to enter the cryptocurrency market and how to purchase BTC, LINK, or any other token on CoinMarketCap's educational platform, Alexandria.

Chainlink and Google, Introduction of Staking in 2022

Chainlink's scope has expanded significantly from its initial focus on aggregating and providing cryptocurrency price data to DeFi protocols like Aave. The ecosystem now accesses over 1 billion data points, securing over $75 billion in value through 1,000 project integrations with 700 oracle networks. Mainstream organizations such as AccuWeather, FedEx, FlightStats, and the Associated Press have partnered with Chainlink for data verification purposes. A particularly significant achievement for Chainlink was the onboarding of Eric Schmidt, former chairman and CEO of Google, as a technical advisor to the oracle network protocol. According to Schmidt, "Chainlink is a secret ingredient to unlocking the potential of smart contract platforms and revolutionizing business and society," and he is keen to contribute to Chainlink's vision of building a world powered by truth. Schmidt joins other notable Chainlink advisors, including former LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner and DocuSign co-founder Tom Gonser.

On its roadmap for 2022, Chainlink planned to finally roll out staking for LINK holders to enhance network security and enable users to earn rewards. Chainlink had been developing its staking solution for several years; however, oracle networks, while decentralized, are a form of decentralized computing rather than traditional blockchains. Co-founder Nazarov explained that Chainlink does not produce blocks but rather "makes consensus on hundreds of oracle networks about price data." He stated that the team was finally satisfied with the security and scalability of their consensus mechanism and ready to launch staking in that year.

Securing the Chainlink Oracle Network With Staking

In December 2021, the Chainlink oracle network introduced the staking of the LINK token as a measure to promote "sustainable growth and security."

Through LINK staking, Chainlink aims to introduce a new layer of "crypto-economic" security to its oracle network. This will be achieved by empowering ecosystem participants, including node operators and community members, with the ability to bolster the security of Chainlink's oracle services by backing them with staked LINK tokens.

This mechanism functions similarly to other crypto-staking platforms within Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks, where participants are required to lock up a specific amount of tokens to contribute to the overall security of the network.

Chainlink Economics 2.0

The initial iteration of LINK staking, designated as version 0.1, was expected to launch by the end of 2022. The success of this initial version would determine the timeline for the launch of version 1.0 and subsequently a full-featured version known as 2.0.

The launch of LINK staking officially marked the beginning of the Chainlink Economics 2.0 era. Chainlink's co-founder, Sergey Nazarov, believes that this era will usher in society's inevitable transition towards cryptographically guaranteed systems.

In an interview, Nazarov stated, "A society powered by cryptographic guarantees needs a system of cryptographic truth to prove what happened, whether that’s about random numbers, market data, weather events, or even just computations that the trust-minimized application needs. This is the world that we’re moving towards."