A popular cryptocurrency analyst has revealed they believe that the price of smart contract oracle platform Chainlink ($LINK) will  “move hard to the upside” in the near future, despite seeing sideways price action over the last few months.

According to the pseudonymous analyst Altcoin Sherpa, $LINK has been behaving like a “stablecoin for now,” although the analyst noted they see the cryptocurrency moving “hard to the upside” once it breaks out of its current range. Per Sherpa, it’s a “decent mid term investment.”

Notably, Benjamin Cowen, another popular cryptocurrency analyst, has revealed that while he believes that the flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin ($BTC) is set to appreciate in the near future, he believes that Chainlink could do even better.

In an interview with Altcoin Daily, Cowen laid out his bullish case for the decentralized oracle platform, noting that while he often refers to BTC’s dominance – or its share of the cryptocurrency market – going much higher in the future, some tokens may still outperform it.

Chainlink has recently partnered with SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication to try to bridge the gap between traditional banks and blockchain. The partnership will see both working on an “initial proof of concept” using Chainlink’s cross-chain interoperability protocol, which provides a cross-blockchain communication standard.

The partnership will mean that the 11,000 financial institutions connected to SWIFT will be able to engage in token transactions across chains. Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov has said the move will accelerate the adoption of distributed ledger technology across capital markets and traditional finance.

SWIFT’s interbank messaging system is the most widely used platform for traditional cross-border fiat transactions. In August, it recorded an average of 44.8 million messages per day. Transactions made using SWIFT’s network can take days to complete, however.

Chainlink has said the collaboration with SWIFT allows financial institutions to gain blockchain capability without replacing, developing, and integrating new connectivity into legacy systems.

Altcoin Sherpa, as reported, also looked at other cryptocurrencies, and said that they are confident Ethereum ($ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, could jump to $1,600 to $1,8000 on its next big move.

The analyst wasn’t as bullish on Ethereum rival Avalanche ($AVAX), predicting a significant decline for the cryptocurrency, from around the $15 mark at which it’s currently trading to roughly $10.

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