In this educational guide, we’re going to explore an altcoin named Chainlink (LINK), and prepare some data for you, which you can verify and use to make your own price prediction.
Chainlink delivers data from off-blockchain sources to on-blockchain smart contracts with the help of oracles. At the time of writing, LINK currently ranks as number 6 of top cryptocurrencies traded by volume.
Let's explore the value, implementations, and price of Chainlink's native token LINK -- over the next few years.
What is Chainlink and how does it work?
Chainlink connects blockchain smart contracts to real-world data with the help of oracles. Smart contracts are blockchain agreements that are pre-specified and execute automatically when defined conditions are met. Oracles are third-party, trusted services that provide accurate real world data.
For example, maybe you want to write a smart contract that says "If it's more than 100 degrees for 3 days in a row, pay John $1000". This is a basic insurance contract, but can be written on a blockchain so there will be no disputes. However, how does the blockchain know if it's 100 degrees outside? Chainlink is the answer.
The tokens known as LINK tokens are used to pay for network services on the Chainlink ecosystem.
Chainlink Overview
ChainlinkLINK has a total supply of 1,000,000,000 tokens distributed as rewards for the people who secure the network (node operators).
SmartContract.com, Chainlink's parent firm, was created in September 2014 to connect external data to public blockchains. With Chainlink, smart contracts can connect to data streams from any online API or source.
The initial SmartContract.com oracle solution for public blockchains depended on centralized oracles, causing the so-called “oracle problem” created by smart contracts relying on trusted third parties for data. In 2017, SmartContract.com launched the Chainlink network, a new decentralized oracle network.
Chainlink Oracles Bridge
A blockchain oracle is a piece of middleware that acts as a bridge between the real world and smart contracts on the blockchain.
Back to our example earlier, what is John's friends were the one who told the blockchain that it was 100 degrees... so that John could get paid (even if it wasn't 100 degrees). We need a decentralized way to gather this data!
To solve the problem of centralized vulnerability, a decentralized smart contract aims to get rid of centralized oracles. There's no point in making an oracle for a blockchain, if it's controlled by one party. A quick review of smart contracts and oracles:
- Smart contracts are contracts that can't be changed and can be proven to be true. They work in an "if/then" format.
- In the past, the data is retrieved from the blockchain's past blocks.
- Oracles are now being used in crypto to connect off-chain data to on-chain smart contracts. This is a new development.
- But if centralized oracles aren't reliable, the value of on-chain smart contracts goes down.
Chainlink uses oracles to move data from off-chain sources to on-chain smart contracts that use them. This method, along with more secure hardware, eliminates the problems that arise when there is only one, centralized source.
Chainlink Smart Contracts
Here’s how Chainlink works on a blockchain that’s compatible with smart contracts (this is very technical):
- An RFI is submitted by the smart contract (Requesting Contract).
- On the blockchain, the Chainlink protocol produces an event (Chainlink Service Level Agreement Contract) and a smart contract (Chainlink SLA Contract).
- Chainlink Reputation, Order-Matching, and Aggregating are the three variables in question. As part of the Chainlink Reputation Contract, each oracle provider is subjected to an evaluation of their validity and performance.
LINK Tokens
Chainlink node operators are rewarded with LINK. Similar to how Bitcoin miners secure the network and get paid with BTC, people who secure and add value to the Chainlink blockchain earn LINK. The Chainlink node operators set the price based on data demand and market. Node operators also have to deposit LINK with Chainlink to show their dedication to the network, this is a term known as 'staking'.
Operators match data requests to nodes depending on the stake amount (among other factors). As a result, higher stake nodes are preferred (and thus earn LINK tokens for their services). Broken or dishonest nodes lose their LINK share in the Chainlink network. LINK tokens are Ethereum-based tokens (following the ERC-20 protocol).
For initial token distribution, node operators received 32% of LINK tokens, while Chainlink retained 30% for development (35% was sold in the 2017 public token sale). Tokens may be exchanged in Chainlink's perfected opportunistic architecture, improving market liquidity.
Chainlink Whale Wallets
Checking Etherscan for the list of top LINK holders, we can see that a healthy number of the top wallets are actually reserved for the team and major exchanges.
It is a really good sign when most of the top holders of a token are exchanges and not single people. The reason for this, is that one person could sell all their tokens, drastically crashing the price. Exchanges are not going to do this. A few other holders are decentralized app contracts like AAVE and contracts reserved for other chains like Binance Smart Chain and Polygon.
Chainlink (LINK) Price History & Technical Analysis
In September 2017, SmartContract.com (SmartContract Chainlink Ltd) raised $32 million in an ICO.
Chainlink is marketed for its ability to connect public blockchains with other data sources. It connects smart contract platforms to off-chain data from markets, events, and payments via a decentralized oracle.
Users can join the Chainlink network and retrieve and distribute data to smart contracts. Chainlink tokens (LINK) are used to pay node operators. When staking becomes live on the mainnet, node operators will be able to stake LINK to fulfill smart contract demands.
Chainlink's mainnet launched on Ethereum on June 1.
The first billion tokens were launched in September 2017. A public sale of 35% raised $32 million at a price of $0.09- $0.11. For over two years after its launch, the token's price never rose above $1.30. Then, in 2019, new partnerships with Google Cloud, Polygon Network, and Reserve pushed connection prices up to $5.
From what we can tell, Chainlink's price seems to be similar to Facebook's value, in that it becomes more valuable the more people who use and make connections on it
As a result of new agreements announced in August 2020, Link's pricing rose beyond $20 for the first time. From the end of 2020 until mid-2021, Link's price more than doubled to $52.88.
What Expert Analysts say about Chainlink:
CRYPTOPOLITAN says, " Chainlink's native token has continued to grow, surprising traders and analysts. So, is Chainlink a smart investment until 2021? Price history implies such. Yes, because Chainlink cryptocurrency is worth it. LINK will hit in the future since other things impact market circumstances. As previously stated, LINK price predictions of $100-200 are reasonable during a bull market."
Changelly Blog says, "Gov Capital is also bullish on this token: according to their Chainlink price prediction, LINK has a potential to reach $215 in the next few years. Many other experts, including the ones at Trading Beasts and Wallet Investor, have less optimistic price predictions, but their LINK forecasts are still overall positive — they expect the token to continue rising both in the short and the long term."
Walletinvestor says, " Walletinvestor.com forecasts future prices of digital currencies like ChainLink using technical analysis. If you want to invest in a lucrative virtual currency, LINK may be a choice. Prices were 26.548 USD on 2022-01-05. If you buy ChainLink today for $100, you will get 3.767 LINK. Based on our projections, the price for 2027-01-02 is 73.518 US Dollars. A 5-year investment should return +176.92 percent. It's possible to double your money by 2027."
Coinpedia says, "This means that Chainlink may be used to expand smart contracts and provide data access for events and transactions. Concerns about the platform's long-term price projection are giving way to optimism. Coinpedia predicts that if the network upgrades its encryption and forms new collaborations, the LINK price would surpass $37.00 by the end of the year. Conversely, several detractors are criticizing the project's use of LINK tokens. If it continues, and additional celebrities back it up, the price may fall to $16.03."
Chainlink Partnerships
With Chainlink's oracles, developers may access cloud data on public blockchains, among other things.
Oracle: Chainlink and Oracle established a partnership to help entrepreneurs monetize their APIs on the Oracle Blockchain Platform.
Chainlink and DApps Inc. established a partnership to give Salesforce users precise and real-time data for smart contract management.
Chainlink and Matic Network collaborated to combine the Oracle network with Matic's Plasma scalability capabilities.
Chainlink and Reserve have teamed together to improve data feeds to smart contracts, especially for Reserve's stablecoin.
Chainlink and Hedera Hashgraph's public blockchain is powered by Hashgraph. Like some other partners, it will leverage the decentralised oracle network to get trustworthy off-chain data for smart contract development.
Binance just announced a deal with Chainlink that would allow it to share crypto data with other blockchain platforms.
Decentralized Esports and Sports Oracles across all BetProtocol gaming platforms: Chainlink and BetProtocol have announced a partnership.
Contentosio, a decentralized content ecosystem, will use Chainlink to collect cross-platform performance statistics. This data may be used to make cash advances, tokenized investments, and other activities.
#DeFi apps will be able to access Bloom's Verifiable Credential data via Chainlink oracles. In this way, Dapps (loan protocols) may access crucial #identification data, including credit history and certification.
The Cosmos SDK now includes a Chainlink "oracle" module from the iris network; a blockchain focused on interoperability. This module connects developers to #Chainlink oracles for reliable data on the IRIS Hub.
Using Chainlink's decentralized oracle networks, Tezos developers may augment their on-chain apps with real-world data.
Totle is integrating with Chainlink to make its Aggregated DEX Data available to smart contracts. #DEX-based derivatives may be used by Dapps to query Chainlink nodes for deep insights into the DEX universe.
Chainlink Price Prediction: 2022-2026
Chainlink's price remained under $1 during the first two years of trading until May 2019. After the price kept climbing, we saw the first peak at around $19 in 2020.
LINK made its all-time high of $52.88 on May 10, 2021, and since then, the market has declined and failed to reach beyond $35.
Fortunately, the market is following a rising trendline—the last time its support around $18 was tested was in mid-December 2021. The market stalled over it for a while. Then the bulls took control, and we’ve seen an upward rally in the past 3 weeks with significant growth.
With more and more enthusiasts coming in and joining Chainlink revolutionary protocols, investors of Chainlink expect and hope to see it go much higher than the last all-time high before 2026. If the market structure remains unchanged for LINK, we might see it go beyond $100.
Chainlink Price Prediction 2022
With over 20,000 active node operators, Chainlink is stronger than ever. Revest Finance, a technology that allows fungible ERC-20 tokens to be packed, stored, and transferred as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has added Chainlink Price Feeds to the Ethereum mainnet. This will give our users more certainty that their value-locked fractional NFTs will not be prematurely unlocked or withdrawn due to any manipulation of on-chain pricing data.
In light of the ever-growing community and projects collaborating with Chainlink, some analysts predict LINK price to go above $35 before 2022 ends.
Chainlink Price Prediction 2023
With the growing popularity of NFTs and a new world being built around them, it isn’t hard to predict that we’re entering the future of the virtual world.
Covid or no Covid, investments in the virtual world and digital assets are growing exponentially, which means more projects and investments are coming along the way to strengthen Chainlink. We might see LINK near or above $50 by the end of 2023.
Chainlink Price Prediction 2024
The Chainlink prediction provides us a glimpse of ever-growing links around the protocol, and the growing trading volumes look promising for the future of Chainlink. If we don't witness another world economic crisis, it's entirely reasonable to say that by the end of 2024, we might see LINK around $100.
Chainlink Price Prediction 2025
2025 will be the quarter mark of this century, and we will almost certainly see a lot of surprises and revolutions come to pass by then. One of them, which is the most important, is WEB 3.0. Which solely depends on smart contracts and blockchain technology. As we know, Chainlink is all about smart contracts and DeFi. So we predict that we will see LINK stay above $100 by the end of 2025.
Chainlink Price Prediction 2026
As technology progresses, it isn’t hard to predict that the worth of Metaverse and the virtual world's assets will be likely be worth billions in 2026. We’re already witnessing digital assets being sold for millions of dollars in the Metaverse, but there’s more to come. We might see Chainlink around $150-$200 by the end of 2026, maybe even higher; depending on the regulations of crypto around the world.
None of these predictions are financial advice, and are educated guesses as to where Chainlink's price may be at each time interval. It should be noted, that any major financial hack or error could change these predictions. For example, Chainlink could announce a movement to a new chain, they could mint new tokens, they could be hacked, or a better competitor could enter the space... all possibilities to push price down below expectations.
Chainlink (LINK): Conclusion Price Prediction
On the one hand, Chainlink is a solid long-term investment that you can retain in your wallet for a long time. The system is independent of blockchains and interoperable. To put it another way, the infrastructure works with "all prominent public and private blockchain settings." As a result, LINK's appreciation will follow general acceptance (if not from individual users, then from new and current products/services) in the future.
However, many investors are hesitant to commit their money into an asset for an extended period of time. The cryptocurrency market has the potential to make you extremely wealthy or to cause you to lose everything. The downfall of an altcoin like LINK is accelerated. However, there is clearly speculative potential.
FAQs
How is Chainlink gaining traction?
Many people are interested in Chainlink price prediction because investors trust this cryptocurrency and see the value of LINK. Chainlink is a fierce rival. In fact, any cryptocurrency would lose value if no one bought it, and people continued to sell. Many think Chainlink's price is expected to rise, making it a possible profitable investment.
Where can I Buy Chainlink?
Popular cryptocurrency LINK is traded on all major platforms and centralized exchanges. You may also begin mining Chainlink for the block rewards. On several centralized exchanges, you may also trade Chainlink for fiat currencies like USD, EUR, GBP, etc.
In comparison to other cryptocurrencies, how can Chainlink secure privacy?
Chainlink is distinct from other digital assets. You should not worry about privacy as Chainlink procedures are fully encrypted. Being a token built on Ethereum, all major trades involving LINK are public and verifiable.
Is it possible to stake Chainlink?
No, you can't stake on Chainlink right now. Soon staking will be available. But for now, you can operate your own node or oracle.
Why is Chainlink on the rise?
Chainlink's diverse product offering attracts investors. LINK allows users to take out crypto loans, save money, and earn interest on their Chainlink coin. Investors are looking for better choices as existing digital currencies like Bitcoin’s opportunities for gains diminish. All evidence leads to an optimistic Chainlink price forecast. Chainlink's price projection shows LINK's price reaching $46 in the first part of five years.
Is Chainlink completely anonymous?
One of the main purposes of Chainlink is to use Ethereum blockchain to provide anonymous transactions. But keep in mind that the blockchain is public, which means all transaction addresses and records are publicly visible.
Is LINK considered a currency?
Yes. Using blockchains, the Chainlink platform allows investors to purchase LINK, a native token designed to encourage a worldwide network of computers to give real-time data to smart contracts. LINK is the only currency that can be used for key network operations with Chainlink.
Is it possible to generate profits with LINK?
It looks likely. According to the evidence, LINK is expected to grow in value as crypto mass-adoption continues. But all investors must always do their own research, due diligence, and ensure that they are comfortable with the amount of risk they are taking. All cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and risky. Always proceed with caution.
Why do people believe in LINK?
Some analysts believe that LINK is the most transparent, scientific, and useful asset on the market. Others think that projects in the future will rely on Chainlink's technology as an oracle service.
Is Chainlink's supply limited?
There’s a fixed supply of LINK, exactly 1 billion tokens. The price of Chainlink rises with demand. To acquire data on the Chainlink network, customers must buy the token on exchanges.
How does the Chainlink team investigate suspicious or fraudulent transactions?
The outputs are encrypted, so only the receiver has access to them. Chainlink's smart contract development team created a system where all transactions are recorded by key images, ensuring no transaction has a duplicate key picture. Miners are also constantly checking for double-spends.
DISCLAIMER
This is not financial advice, only observations and speculation. All investors should do their own research and due diligence. The crypto markets are extremely volatile and losing your investment is possible.
