What is Chainlink and why is there currently so much noise about this project?

A growing number of crypto evangelists argue Chainlink might just be one of the most exciting projects currently in existence. It was created in 2015 (LINK tokens were originally offered to the public during its ICO in 2017). A simple explanation… its a decentralized oracle platform (the first of its kind) which connects to real-world applications and data and an API…And aims to bridge the gap between blockchain and legacy systems. The Oracle data is aggregated and verified to prevent tampering, and oracles are rewarded with LINK, the token.

With ChainLink, smart contract users can use the network’s oracles to retrieve data from off-chain application program interfaces (APIs), data pools, and other resources and integrate them into the blockchain. Basically, ChainLink takes information that is external to blockchain applications and puts it on-chain. Chainlink is blockchain agnostic.

Oracle markets like Chainlink and Augur combine real-world data with blockchain technology to open new possibilities. Some believe this is the natural evolution of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts.

LINK Token’s Crypto Market Performance

Chainlink has been a sleeping giant in my humble opinion. The highest price of LINK so far was $1.28, which occurred in early January 2018. Circulating supply is currently at 350,000,000 out of a total supply of 1,000,000,000 LINK.

The price of LINK has increased impressively over the last couple of months (Dec 18/Jan 19) and has more than doubled as the rest of the market has continued to drop in value.

LINK is “mined” by selling off-chain services and data through an API connected to the Chainlink Network to become an oracle node.

ChainLink’s most major exchange is Binance accounting for 97% of the coin’s trading volume in BTC (66.20%) and ETH (31.10%).

Compatible wallets are My Ether Wallet and the Ledger Nano S.

Where will Link take us?

As it’s designed to run off API queries based on smart contractual SLAs, the possible use-cases of Chainlink are truly endless. Of course, we won’t know for sure how well it works until the mainnet launches, which isn’t likely until sometime in 2019. This should be an exciting year.

Chainlink Summary

If the mainnet delivers as promised, it’ll be a lean and powerful project/offering. It doesn’t need to be an Ethereum killer – in fact, the more cryptocurrencies and blockchains on the market, the more useful Chainlink theoretically becomes.

Watch this space, 2019 should see some interesting times at Chainlink. It has *almost* broken away from Bitcon price action… when it finally does, there could be fireworks!

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