What is Chainlink?

Chainlink is the industry-standard oracle platform bringing the capital markets onchain and powering the majority of decentralized finance (DeFi). Chainlink stands to benefit the most from emerging blockchain-industry trends, such as stablecoin adoption, real-world asset tokenization, and institutional adoption of blockchain technology. Chainlink is powered by the LINK token, which is used to pay for platform services and secure the network’s proper functioning. Chainlink leverages a novel fee model where offchain and onchain revenue from enterprise adoption is converted to LINK tokens and stored in a strategic Chainlink Reserve.

When and how did Chainlink start?

Chainlink (LINK) was launched in 2017 and was founded by Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis. Developed to bridge the gap between smart contracts and real-world data, Chainlink aimed to provide secure and reliable oracles for decentralized applications. The project gained significant attention after its initial coin offering (ICO), which raised over $32 million, and its early listings on major exchanges like Binance and Huobi helped establish its presence in the crypto market. Chainlink's early innovative approach to decentralized data feeds has since positioned it as a leader in blockchain infrastructure.

What’s coming up for Chainlink?

Chainlink is transitioning to a CRE-Based platform and has embarked on a multi-phased initiative to re-architect the Chainlink Platform so developers can build their own custom workflows in a self-serve manner. Essential to this vision is distilling the bare essential functions of an oracle network (e.g., chain read, chain write, fetch API, do compute, etc.) into modular capabilities that developers can directly piece together into their own workflows. Chainlink is best positioned to benefit from the evolving dynamics of the blockchain industry by being at the forefront of financial innovation and the global tokenization trend. Traditional financial institutions and infrastructures, such as Swift, DTCC, Euroclear, J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, Central Bank of Brazil, UBS, SBI, Fidelity International, ANZ, and many others are adopting Chainlink as fundamental infrastructure as they move toward tokenizing trillions onchain. SmartCon is an annual event hosted by Chainlink Labs, bringing governments, financial institutions, and leading Web3 projects together to discuss how blockchain technology is transforming markets, public services, and the global economy. SmartCon features speakers from the leading TradFi and DeFi organizations. Key members of Chainlink Labs consistently speak at Sibos, an annual convention organized by Swift that hosts over 500 expert speakers sharing their insights and outlooks across 250+ sessions, covering topics such as AI, quantum computing, digital assets, payments, securities, FX, interoperability, cybersecurity, and more.

What makes Chainlink stand out?

Chainlink is the only platform that supports multiple open standards for designing and operating oracle services, which currently span four key verticals: 1) Data, 2) Interoperability, 3) Compliance, and 4) Privacy. Built upon these standards exists an ever-expanding collection of modular, purpose-built oracle services, which can be easily created and seamlessly composed using the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE). CRE is a developer platform and decentralized execution environment for running, managing, and composing oracle services into scalable end-to-end solutions, which run in a highly secure, reliable, and cryptographically verifiable manner.

What can you do with Chainlink?

The Chainlink platform fulfills the requirements of any institutional blockchain use case. The Chainlink platform enables developers and institutions to access all the critical data, interoperability, compute, compliance, privacy, and legacy-system connectivity required for advanced blockchain applications that link the onchain and offchain worlds. Chainlink solves four fundamental problems for institutions interacting with tokenized assets: The data problem. Tokenized assets need real-world information to be usable in transactions, such as market pricing, reference data, and proof of reserves data. Chainlink is the market leader in bringing real-world data onchain securely and accurately. The liquidity problem. Financial institutions need tokenized assets that can be securely accessed and moved across blockchain networks in order to maximize liquidity. Chainlink CCIP is the only cross-chain interoperability standard that securely connects any public or private blockchain, opening up global markets for tokenized assets. The synchronization problem. Tokenized assets must remain synchronized with legacy systems once issued across multiple chains. Chainlink is the only platform that offers reliable offchain data, system connectivity, and secure cross-chain interoperability, enabling a Unified Golden Record that stays with assets anywhere. The compliance problem. Regulated institutions require compliance enforcement capabilities such as identity verification (KYC), risk screening (AML), exploit protection, and asset-specific restrictions. The Chainlink Automated Compliance Engine extends existing financial infrastructure for identity and compliance data to blockchains and tokenized assets.

Is Chainlink still active or relevant?

There are thousands of projects in the Chainlink ecosystem resulting in Chainlink securing tens of trillions in onchain transaction value. Major traditional financial institutions and infrastructures, such as Swift, DTCC, Euroclear, J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, Central Bank of Brazil, UBS, SBI, Fidelity International, ANZ, and many others are adopting Chainlink as fundamental infrastructure as they move toward tokenizing trillions onchain. Demand for Chainlink has already generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue across a variety of traditional and decentralized use cases.

Who is Chainlink designed for?

The Chainlink oracle platform is bringing the capital markets onchain and powering the majority of decentralized finance (DeFi). The Chainlink stack provides the essential data, interoperability, compliance, and privacy standards needed to power advanced blockchain use cases for institutional tokenized assets, lending, payments, stablecoins, and more.

How is Chainlink secured?

The platform is secured by decentralized oracle networks (DONs), which are composed of independent node operators that come to consensus over any arbitrary input to deliver highly secure and reliable data, computation, and value to its intended destination. Chainlink node operators include traditional Web2 telecommunication providers, leading data providers, and Web3 infrastructure providers such as Deutsche Telekom, Swisscom, Vodafone, and Infura.

Has Chainlink faced any controversy or risks?

Chainlink (LINK) has faced scrutiny over its reliance on centralized oracles, which some critics argue poses a risk of manipulation and security incidents. Additionally, the broader cryptocurrency market is known for its extreme volatility, which can affect LINK's price stability. While Chainlink has not experienced major hacks or rug pulls, the ongoing debate about regulatory scrutiny and potential legal issues in the crypto space remains a challenge.