Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network: a system of independent node operators that deliver outside information, such as asset prices, to smart contracts, which cannot fetch it themselves. It also offers cross-chain messaging, random numbers and automation. LINK is the token used to pay node operators and to stake for network security.
What is LINK used for?
LINK pays the node operators that provide Chainlink's services, and it can be staked to help secure some of them, earning rewards in return. Since August 2025, part of the fees Chainlink earns from enterprises and onchain users is converted into LINK and held in the Chainlink Reserve.
When a smart contract needs outside data, a network of independent Chainlink nodes collects it from several sources, agrees on a single answer and writes it to the blockchain. Because many nodes and sources are used, no single operator or data provider can easily change the result. The same node networks also carry messages and tokens between blockchains through CCIP.
Who founded Chainlink?
Chainlink was co-founded by Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis. Its whitepaper was published in 2017, the LINK token sale raised about $32 million that year, and the network went live on Ethereum in May 2019.
What is the total supply of LINK?
LINK has a fixed total supply of 1 billion tokens, all created at launch. Not all of it is in circulation: tokens held by the Chainlink team and reserved for node operators are released over time, and the live circulating supply is shown in the market data on this page.
What is Chainlink CCIP?
CCIP, the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, lets smart contracts send messages and tokens between different blockchains, using Chainlink's node networks plus a separate risk-management network that watches for suspicious activity. Banks and DeFi apps use it to move tokenized assets across chains.
How do I stake Chainlink?
LINK holders can stake in the Chainlink Staking pool through the official Chainlink staking app, when the pool has open space. Staked LINK helps secure Chainlink price feeds and earns rewards, and unstaking has a cooldown period. Check the official app for current limits before staking.
Is there a Chainlink ETF?
Yes. The Grayscale Chainlink Trust ETF (GLNK) began trading on NYSE Arca on 2 December 2025 as the first US spot Chainlink ETF. An ETF gives price exposure through a brokerage account, but you do not hold the LINK yourself.
How do I store LINK?
LINK on Ethereum is an ERC-20 token, so it can be held in any self-custody wallet that supports ERC-20 tokens, including the Bitcoin.com Wallet app. LINK also exists on other blockchains, so check which network your LINK is on before you send it.
Is Chainlink a good investment?
Whether LINK suits you depends on your goals and risk tolerance, and this page is not financial advice. Chainlink is widely used across DeFi and in banking pilots, but LINK's price has been volatile, a large share of the supply is still held by the team and released over time, and Chainlink faces competition from other oracle networks. Only invest what you can afford to lose, and speak to a licensed financial adviser before making investment decisions.
What is Chainlink (LINK)?
Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network: a system of independent node operators that bring outside information, such as asset prices, into blockchain smart contracts. Blockchains cannot fetch data from the internet on their own, so a lending app that needs to know the price of ETH, or an insurance contract that needs to know whether a flight was delayed, relies on an oracle to deliver that information. Chainlink also lets smart contracts send messages and tokens between different blockchains.
LINK is the token of the Chainlink network. Node operators are paid in LINK for their work, and holders can stake LINK to help secure some of Chainlink's services. Chainlink was co-founded by Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis, published its whitepaper in 2017 and went live on Ethereum in May 2019. By the value of the assets it helps secure, it is the most widely used oracle network in DeFi.
Chainlink at a glance
Item
Detail
Type
Decentralized oracle network
Founded by
Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis
Whitepaper
September 2017
Mainnet
May 2019, on Ethereum
Token
LINK (ERC-677, compatible with ERC-20)
Total supply
1 billion LINK
Main services
Data Feeds, CCIP, Proof of Reserve, VRF, Automation
Staking
Live since December 2022
US spot ETFs
Grayscale (GLNK) since December 2025; Bitwise since January 2026
The oracle problem
Smart contracts run inside a blockchain and can only see data that is already on that chain. That keeps them predictable, because every node must reach the same result, but it means they have no direct way to learn about the outside world: market prices, interest rates, sports results or bank balances.
An oracle bridges that gap. The risk is that a single oracle becomes a single point of failure: if one company or server supplies the data, it can make a mistake, be hacked or be bribed, and every contract that depends on it can be drained. Many DeFi exploits have come from manipulated price data. Chainlink's answer is to use many independent nodes and many data sources, so no single party controls the result.
How Chainlink works
Each Chainlink service runs on a decentralized oracle network (DON), a group of independent node operators that each fetch data, compare their answers and agree on one result before it is written to the blockchain.
For a price feed, the process looks like this:
Collect: each node pulls the asset's price from several professional data providers that aggregate prices across exchanges.
Agree: the nodes share their answers off-chain and combine them into a single value, usually the median, signed by the group.
Deliver: the agreed value is written to an on-chain contract that any app can read. Feeds update on a schedule and whenever the price moves by more than a set amount.
Because a feed uses many independent nodes and many sources, one faulty node or data provider cannot move the result on its own. Node operators include professional infrastructure firms, and their performance history is public on-chain.
Chainlink's main services
Data Feeds: the price feeds that most lending, derivatives and stablecoin protocols use to value collateral and trigger liquidations. Data Streams offer faster, on-demand prices for trading apps.
CCIP: the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol lets smart contracts send messages and tokens between blockchains. It runs on Chainlink's node networks plus a separate risk-management network that watches for suspicious activity and can pause transfers. CCIP opened to all developers in April 2024. Read more about cross-chain interoperability.
Proof of Reserve: checks that tokens backed by off-chain assets, such as wrapped bitcoin or tokenized gold, are really backed, and publishes the result on-chain.
VRF: a verifiable random number generator used by blockchain games, NFT mints and lotteries, with a proof that the number was not tampered with.
Automation and Functions: services that trigger smart contracts on a schedule or condition, and that let contracts call outside web APIs.
Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE): launched in November 2025, CRE lets developers and institutions build workflows that combine several Chainlink services across multiple chains and existing bank systems.
What is LINK used for?
Paying node operators: apps and institutions pay for Chainlink services, and node operators are rewarded in LINK.
Staking: LINK holders can stake their tokens in the Chainlink Staking pool, which helps secure Chainlink's ETH/USD price feed on Ethereum. Node operators who stake can be penalized if the feed fails, and stakers earn rewards. The pool has a size limit and an unbonding period, so space is not always available.
The Chainlink Reserve: since August 2025, part of the revenue Chainlink earns from enterprises and on-chain users is converted into LINK and held in the Chainlink Reserve, a long-term on-chain treasury. Through Payment Abstraction, users can pay for services in other tokens, which are then converted into LINK.
LINK supply and distribution
LINK has a fixed total supply of 1 billion tokens, all created at launch in 2017. No new LINK can be minted. The original allocation was:
Allocation
Share
Notes
Token sale
35%
Sold in September 2017, raising about $32 million
Node operators and ecosystem
35%
Released over time to support node operators and growth
Company
Tokens from the node operator and company allocations are released over time, so the circulating supply has grown steadily since 2019. The live figure is shown in the market data on this page.
LINK on Ethereum uses the ERC-677 standard, an extension of ERC-20 that adds a way to send tokens and data in one transaction. LINK also exists on many other blockchains and layer 2 networks, where it is moved through CCIP.
Chainlink and traditional finance
Chainlink has become one of the main bridges between banks and public blockchains. In 2023 it ran experiments with Swift and a group of large banks on moving tokenized assets between chains, and it has run pilots with the DTCC and several major asset managers on putting fund data and tokenized funds on-chain. In August 2025 the US Department of Commerce chose Chainlink, along with another oracle provider, to publish official economic data such as GDP on public blockchains.
Chainlink ETFs
The Grayscale Chainlink Trust ETF (GLNK) began trading on NYSE Arca on 2 December 2025 as the first US spot Chainlink ETF, and Bitwise launched a second spot Chainlink ETF in January 2026. An ETF gives price exposure through an ordinary brokerage account, but investors do not hold the LINK themselves.
Key milestones
Date
Milestone
Sep 2017
Whitepaper published and LINK token sale
May 2019
Chainlink mainnet goes live on Ethereum
2020
Price feeds become standard across DeFi; VRF and Proof of Reserve launch
Dec 2022
LINK staking launches
2023
Swift experiments with major banks
Apr 2024
CCIP opens to all developers
Aug 2025
Chainlink Reserve launches; US Commerce Department data goes on-chain
Nov 2025
Chainlink Runtime Environment launches
Dec 2025
First US spot Chainlink ETF (GLNK)
Jan 2026
Bitwise Chainlink ETF launches
Risks and controversies
Token supply held by the team: a large share of LINK is still held in wallets linked to the Chainlink team and the node operator allocation. Those wallets periodically move tokens to exchanges and node operators, which some holders see as steady selling pressure.
Concentration of control: each price feed is run by a set of selected node operators rather than an open, permissionless group, and many Chainlink contracts can be upgraded by multisig wallets controlled by a small number of signers. Critics argue this leaves more trust in the Chainlink team than the word "decentralized" suggests.
Value capture: much of Chainlink's usage has historically been subsidized, and whether service fees will grow enough to support LINK's value is still an open question. The Reserve is designed to address this, but it depends on real revenue.
Competition: other oracle networks compete for the same customers, especially for fast price data on newer blockchains.
Price volatility: like any cryptocurrency, LINK's price can move sharply. This page is not financial advice.
How to buy and store LINK
LINK is listed on most large exchanges and can be bought through on-ramp providers or swapped on decentralized exchanges. LINK on Ethereum is an ERC-20 compatible token, so it can be held in any self-custody wallet that supports Ethereum tokens, including the Bitcoin.com Wallet app. LINK also exists on other networks, so always check which network your LINK is on before you send it, and be wary of bridges and tokens that are not the official version.
Bitcoin.com interview with Sergey Nazarov
Bitcoin.com spoke with Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov about connecting crypto markets with traditional finance. He discusses cross-chain DeFi, the role of oracles in securing on-chain applications, and why institutions such as JPMorgan, Fidelity and UBS are moving parts of their business on-chain.
