Chainlink's LINK Token Taps 22-Month High of $18, Ending Three-Month Breather

Chainlink's (LINK) surged to a 22-month high Friday, ending a three-month bull breather for the token of the leading decentralized oracle network.

The world's 13th largest cryptocurrency peeped above $18 during European hours, the highest since April 3, 2022, registering a 15% gain on a 24-hour basis, according to CoinDesk data. The LINK price has risen nearly 30% in a week, beating major cryptocurrencies including bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). The rally marks a bullish breakout from the three-month range that's seen it stuck between $13 and $17, and signals a continuation of a comeback from June 2023 lows near $5.

Over the years, Chainlink has emerged as a critical component of the crypto industry infrastructure, connecting blockchains with data from the outside world through its oracles and a wide range of partnerships. Its blockchain-agnostic infrastructure ensures compatibility with different blockchains and facilitates the seamless and secure transfer of coins from one blockchain to another.

"Traditional financial institutions need data, compute, and cross-chain capabilities to adopt blockchains and tokenized RWAs at scale. Only the Chainlink platform provides all three," Chainlink said on X early this week.

Last month, analysts at K33 Research said LINK is 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 trade as digital tokens on a blockchain. According to Boston Consultancy Group, tokenized RWAs could be worth $16 trillion by 2030.

The dollar value locked in the number of open futures contracts tied to LINK has more than doubled to a record $490 million, according to data source CoinGlass. In cryptocurrency terms, open interest has surged 62% to 27.51 million LINK.

An increase in open interest represents an influx of new money into the market. A rise in price alongside an uptick in open interest is said to confirm the trend.

Meanwhile, funding rates in perpetual futures contracts remain positive, but well below highs reached in December, a sign the market is not yet overheated on the bullish side.