What is Chainlink?

Here is how Binance Info describes Chainlink:

“Chainlink (LINK) is a decentralized network that provides information (oracles) to smart contracts.

“Founded in 2017 by Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis, Chainlink aims to solve the problem of off-chain information sourcing by smart contracts for their execution parameters. Smart contracts are designed to execute automatically when certain parameters are met, however, when these parameters exist off-chain there is a reliance on sources of information (known as oracles) to provide the necessary information. Off-chain oracles tend to be centralized and with it comes a reliance on a third party to provide critical information in a trustworthy and time critical manner.

“Chainlink aims to break this reliance by feeding information to smart contracts via a network of decentralized oracles that work together on the Link blockchain to verify and forward critical information to these contracts. The ChainLink network allows users who have either a data feed or information carrying APIs to easily provide information to smart-contracts in exchange for the LINK token.”

LINK’s Price Action

According to data from CryptoCompare, on Friday (February 7), the Chainlink (LINK) price surged past $3.20, which is the highest it has been since last July, as you can see from the one-year LINK-USDT price chart shown below:

LINK-USDT One Year CC Chart on 7 Feb 2020.png

At press time (11:56 UTC on February 7), LINK-USD is trading at $3.20, up 9.29% in the past 24-hour period:

LINK-USD 24 Hour Chart on 7 Feb 2002.png

Popular crypto analyst/trader “Ledger Status” (@ledgerstatus on Twitter) had this to say about LINK’s price action:

It is worth pointing out that not only has LINK been a great performer so far in 2020 (+79.92% vs USD), it was also one of the best-performing cryptoassets of last year. In fact, LINK’s return-on-investment (ROI) for the past one-year period is +711.46%. 

One of the keys to Chainlink’s success is the rate at which the blockchain startup is signing new partnerships, the latest of which was announced last night: