Chainlink Jumps While Bitcoin Stages Recovery

Tokens of oracle platform Chainlink (LINK) have climbed 10% in the past 24 hours to lead gains among major cryptocurrencies as the broader market showed signs of recovery.

LINK traded at $26.04 during the European morning hours, extending a 27% rise in the past week. It hit a resistance level and fell back as some traders took profits. Price charts show the $26-$28 range could prove to be trading limits. If it breaks through, another major resistance exists at $30.

LINK is used to pay for price feeds and other services on Chainlink and has a market capitalization of $12 billion, CoinGecko data show. The price is, however, down 50% from May 2021′s record $52.

Oracles are blockchain-based services that fetch data from outside a blockchain. Blockchains, by design, are immutable stores of data, but can’t verify if the entered data is false or rogue. This is where oracle networks like Chainlink help – they refer multiple sources of information to provide reliable data to blockchain-based services and products for users.

LINK was one of the few tokens in green as the rest of the market showed tepid growth.

Bitcoin gained over $460 in the past 24 hours ahead of Wednesday’s release of the minutes of the December meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed). Investors expect early rate hikes as the agency ends its asset-buying program in March 2022.

The program was started by the Fed after the first coronavirus outbreak in early 2020 to support asset prices, leading to inflation concerns and increased interest in risky assets such as bitcoin. The Fed’s balance sheet has since grown to $8.75 trillion.

A steady bitcoin saw several major cryptocurrencies hold support levels. Ether (ETH), binance coin (BNB), and solana (SOL) – three of the top five cryptocurrencies by market cap – rose just over 1% in the past 24 hours.

Losers among major cryptocurrencies showed only slight declines. Tokens of Terra (LUNA) and Avalanche (AVAX), which have risen as much as 30% in the past month, lost just over 1% of their value in the past 24 hours.

Top gainers outside of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap included fantom (FTM) and osmosis (OSMO), which continued their rise from the start of this week. Both tokens have seen increased interest as investors search for blockchain ecosystems – outside of Ethereum – that can support the creation of software and other services atop their networks.