The price performance of Chainlink was a major focus last week, with a 25% increase in value, competing with Bitcoin’s surge above $43,000. However, despite this initial upward momentum, the price of LINK seems to be hitting a plateau, struggling to maintain levels above $18.
Recent on-chain data reveals a potential reason behind this slowdown. SpotOnChain, a crypto analytics firm, reported that 16 million LINK tokens, worth $341 million, were unlocked from non-circulating supply contracts. The majority of these tokens, 15.95 million, were transferred to Binance, while the remaining 3.05 million were sent to a multi-sig wallet.
This transfer is not an isolated incident, as Chainlink has been consistently unlocking and moving tokens to Binance since 2022. In total, 106 million tokens have been unlocked, with 88.95 million sent to Binance, totaling $805 million.
The impact of these unlocks is evident in the price, with the last two leading to a slight decrease in LINK’s value. Despite this, the token has seen a 1.5% increase in price in the past day, currently sitting at $17.86.
In a more positive development, Chainlink has experienced a surge in network activity, reflected in a multi-month high in transaction volume. The metric reached its highest level in almost two years, with over 72.24 million LINK tokens (equivalent to $1.3 billion) transacted on February 4. This surge in network activity suggests that positive network fundamentals could reignite bullish momentum for the altcoin.
The combination of unlocking of tokens and the surge in network activity signifies a dynamic environment for Chainlink, with potential implications for its price movement in the near future. As the industry continues to evolve, staying informed about the latest on-chain data and network activity can provide valuable insights for investors and traders in the crypto and NFT field.
