Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network built on Ethereum, feeding real-world data from external sources to smart contracts and supported blockchain platforms. Acting as a bridge between off-chain and on-chain worlds, Chainlink connects smart contracts directly to real-world data, and can be used to autonomously verify whether the contract’s parameters are met based on a wide range of inputs (events scores, payments, etc.).
Here’s a quick overview of key facts about Chainlink and its core blockchain features:
- Chainlink is a blockchain-powered oracle platform that connects real-world off-chain data with smart contracts
- Chainlink makes it possible to establish decentralized oracle networks that provide inputs and outputs for smart contracts.
- The project’s mainnet launched in 2019, roughly two years after the idea for the decentralized oracle network was outlined by Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis
- 35% of the total LINK supply was distributed via the Chainlink token sale, with the initial price of LINK set a roughly $0.09
- In 2022, The Chainlink team revealed the so-called “Economics 2.0”, a series of ecosystem road map goals headlined by the announcement of LINK staking
What is Chainlink and how does it work?
The Chainlink network enables users to connect smart contracts to decentralized trusted notes serving available data collected from external sources and APIs. Using Chainlink Automation, smart contracts can act upon automatically served real-world data with no outside intervention needed.
In essence, Chainlink aims to provide a solution for the “oracle problem” faced by smart contract-enabled blockchain platforms such as Ethereum. Smart contracts make it possible to execute code in a decentralized and trustless manner when pre-determined conditions are met.
However, when smart contracts have to make use of real-world data, such as the exchange rate between two different assets, an obvious problem arises. Even though the execution of the smart contract itself may be decentralized and trustless, the “oracles” which feed data to it can easily be manipulated or otherwise untrustworthy.
Chainlink makes it possible to establish decentralized oracle networks that provide inputs and outputs for smart contracts. These decentralized oracle networks consist of multiple independent nodes, an agreed-upon method for collecting data, and external adaptors that provide access to APIs.
The LINK token functions on the Ethereum platform as an ERC-677 standard token. ERC-677 tokens retain all of the properties of ERC-20 tokens, but sport some additional features. LINK tokens are necessary for compensating node operators. Node operators also use their LINK tokens as collateral. In simplified terms - if they submit bad data, they lose the LINK tokens they had to put up as collateral. In 2022, the utility of the LINK token was expanded to include staking as an additional cryptoeconomic security layer for the Chainlink platform.
Creation of Chainlink
The idea for the decentralized oracle network was first outlined in the 2017 white paper co-authored by Sergey Nazarov, Steve Ellis, and Ari Juels. That same year, the initial coin offering (ICO) for the project’s native LINK token project started, with a hard cap set at $32 million.
A year later, Chainlink integrated with Town Crier, a blockchain oracle service connecting Ethereum with HTTPS-using web pages.
Chainlink officially launched as a smart contract-servicing network in 2019. In 2020, Chainlink integrated with DECO, a zero-knowledge-proof protocol co-developed by Cornell University and Juel. The ZKP technology allows oracles to prove whether the information is correct, without having to reveal it at any point.
In 2021, a second Chainlink whitepaper was published – called Chainlink 2.0: Next Steps in the Evolution of Decentralized Oracle Networks – detailing the role of decentralized oracle networks, hybrid smart contracts, and on-chain/off-chain connecting services.
Chainlink Price History
The project’s native token, called Chainlink (LINK), was initially made available to ICO investors in September 2017 at a price of $0.09 per token. Between the presale and the subsequent public sale, 350,000,000 LINK were distributed to early investors in total.
According to our Chainlink price data, the token initially started changing hands at roughly $0.20. The LINK token’s price quickly increased in subsequent months and went on to break the $50 milestone roughly three years after the initial launch on cryptocurrency exchanges. Historically, LINK has been one of the best-performing crypto assets in the cryptocurrency market.
Here is what the historical LINK price data tells us about key milestones in the token’s price history:
- $0.09 - LINK coin’s price at the time of the ICO sale in 2017 was $ 0.09 per token
- $1 - The price of Chainlink surpassed $1 for the first time in early January 2018
- $5 - Chainlink’s price rallied beyond $5 in July 2020
- $10 - The price of LINK surged past $10 for the first time in August 2020
- $20 - Chainlink coin’s price reached the $20 price milestone in January 2021
- $50 - Our Chainlink price chart shows that LINK first surpassed the $50 mark in May 2021
For a glimpse into LINK’s potential future price movements in addition to the Chainlink live price, you can follow our algorithmically generated Chainlink price predictions that take into account LINK’s current price and a number of market indicators, including Fear & Greed Index, market sentiment, overall volatility, and more. You can also check the up-to-date market rate of 1 LINK to USD via our handy crypto-to-fiat and crypto-to-crypto conversion feature.
Chainlink Market Cap
The market of Chainlink has mostly mirrored the high volatility of the crypto market and the parabolic growth of the project's native crypto asset. The market value of LINK places the crypto asset among the largest digital assets by market capitalization.
Here’s what the historical LINK price charts tell us about the crypto’s most notable market cap milestones:
- $200 million - LINK’s market cap soared past $200 million in January 2018, mere months after the token first started trading
- $500 million - In June 2019, the market cap of LINK reached $500 million
- $1 billion - Chainlink reached unicorn status at the end of June 2019
- $10 billion - The market cap of Chainlink increased beyond the $10 billion mark for the first time in February 2021
- $20 billion - LINK’s market cap surpassed $20 billion in May 2021
Chainlink Supply
Chainlink has a total supply of 1 billion tokens, meaning that there won’t ever be more than that amount of LINK tokens in circulation. While 35% of LINK’s maximum supply was distributed to initial investors, the remaining amount was reserved for node operators, ecosystem rewards, and the Chainlink team.
The incentive mechanism and pre-mined tokens have contributed to a gradually increasing LINK circulating supply. According to the team, all tokens will have been in circulation by October 2027.
Here’s what the Chainlink tokenomics look like:
- 35% was allocated to the token sales investors
- 35% was reserved for incentivizing network participation via ecosystem rewards
- 30% was allocated to the Chainlink team
The most important Chainlink milestones
Following the initial idea presented in the 2017 whitepaper, and the mainnet’s subsequent launch in 2019, Chainlink has reached several notable milestones. Here’s a quick look at Chainlink’s eventful past:
- September 2017 - The original Chainlink whitepaper gets published by co-authors Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis
- September 2017 - The initial sale of LINK tokens starts, with 35% of the total supply reserved for early investors
- November 2018 - Chainlink acquired Town Crier, an oracle service connecting Ethereum and HTTPS sources
- May 2019 - The Chainlink mainnet goes online
- April 2021 - The project’s second whitepaper, called Chainlink 2.0: Next Steps in the Evolution of Decentralized Oracle Networks, gets published
- June 2022 - Chainlink announces LINK staking to incentivize blockchain node operators to bring an added layer of security to the platform
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