Whales have been accumulating Chainlink (LINK) over the last five days, buying from Binance and sending it to self-custody wallets. The tokens were sent to new wallets, with 30 of the addresses tied to Whale Holdings. The addresses now hold a total of 1.37 million LINK worth $34.1 million. The biggest wallet holds 151K LINK, with the smallest holding about 5K LINK.
The idea behind the accumulation remains unknown considering the fact that LINK is used for speculative trading and as a utility token. Aside from also being used to earn passive income, movement to self-custody wallets signifies a potential interaction with DeFi. However, there is an indication that the activity may be related to the current dip in the market.
Speculations trail whale LINK withdrawal activities
Despite the religious holding of LINK by its investors, the token is still trading within a range-bound region. Other uses may include staking, with liquid staking providing additional rewards to users. Some of the withdrawn LINKs have been sent to the stake.link priority pool.
This is not the first heightened whale accumulation surrounding the token, as it has always been the push that has triggered the surge. Other whale activity has also led to rewards, with a trader recently making short-term gains of $200k. The Whale uses LINK to make profits, buying during price dips and selling during gains to make profits. The whale leverages the asset’s deep liquidity and its decentralized approach to shift between USDT and LINK, gaining profits from trades in days or hours.
While most whales use spot trading for their activities, the total open interest in the asset has dropped from its 2024 peak. Long positions are now 75%, with a downward move likely over the next few days. LINK has been consolidating in the higher price region after inching close to $30. With the asset at $24, it is still struggling to break above that mark.
Chainlink sets its focus on partnerships and financial services
Chainlink has continued to set its sights on its product as a utility, removing focus from its token. The platform ranks at 6 on Github, making it one of the most active projects in the space. Over the last few months, the project has been able to add more partnerships to its CCIP cross-chain service. After replacing the Ronin bridge, the project has taken over the bridging of Neiro on Ethereum and ApusCoin. Although the tokens are small, it still signals a nice shift for the token.
Meanwhile, over the last few years, whales with 100k LINK have continued to accumulate more tokens. Retailers are now selling, changing the profile of the token. With the asset still unlocked, shifts in its supply are happening in the wider market. CCIP now opens links to more than 13 blockchains, with more focus on replacing other bridges to assert its dominance in the cross-chain transfer market.