Chainlink (LINK), the decentralized oracle middleware project that helps smart contracts interact with real-world data, has been among the best performing crypto projects so far in 2019.

Of course, bitcoin (BTC) has been the one leading the cryptoeconomy up as of late, being up 11 percent on the week, up 18 percent on the month, and up 73 percent over the last three months. Yet LINK has been putting up similarly optimistic numbers — the crypto’s price is up 43 percent on the week, up 29 percent on the month, and up 54 percent over the last three months in kind.

The crypto, which now enjoys enjoys a market capitalization of approximately $240 million USD, is currently priced at $0.068 — now more than halfway to its all-time price high of $1.28, which was reached during the peak of the cryptoeconomy’s last bull run in January 2018.

As the crypto ecosystem has seemingly started to turn bullish once more, many of the top coins’ prices have started to show new signs of life in the market. But LINK, a lesser known project generally speaking, has been one of the better performers recently — why?

The answer to that question is undoubtedly a combination of things. First, Chainlink is tackling decentralized oracles, which could end up taking smart contract tech to the mainstream. It’s also the largest and most reputable project working on oracles, with Chainlink’s technical maestro Sergey Nazarov being a respected mind in the ecosystem.

A factor surely at play is Chainlink’s small, underdog status. Traders have likely looked at LINK as a coin that can grow higher and faster than top 10 crypto projects that have already become well established. Thus, Chainlink could provide a more aggressive bet than other coins at present.

Another dynamic to consider is that the Chainlink team has been quietly racking up partnerships around the space. Decrypt recently profiled these partnerships, of which there are now approximately 30.

Hedera Hashgraph and Chainlink Partner Up

Chainlink’s latest partnership announcement came on May 9th, as the team and the builders of the Hedera Hashgraph decentralized ledger declared they had inked a deal.

Specifically, the agreement will entail Chainlink helping to implement its oracle network into the enterprise-minded Hedera Hashgraph ledger. As such, those writing Hashgraph smart contracts will be able to leverage Chainlink’s oracles in the future.

Read: What is Hedera Hashgraph?

Jordan Fried — Hedera’s SVP of Global Business Development — hailed the collaboration as an advancement for the possibilities of smart contracts in general:

“Smart contracts have already started to change the world, and how organizations and individuals do business, and we see Chainlink’s oracle network as a key piece of infrastructure to improve smart contract capabilities even further.”

The Hedera team also noted that the team-up would give Chainlink’s tech exposure to some of the “largest global enterprises” operating today.

LINK a Coin to Watch in Alt Season Cycle?

The debate is still on as to whether the cryptoeconomy has entered a full-fledged bull market cycle. If it has, though, Chainlink seems like the kind of coin worth keeping an eye on.

Chris Burniske, a partner at the venture capital firm Placeholder, recently outlined how bitcoin seems to rally first, at which point traders disseminate their profits into altcoins that are viewed as “depressed” — i.e. undervalued.

2/ Whales cycle from $BTC into the "alts" that're depressed (pick your alt). Those "alts" rally harder than BTC did because they are higher risk, gaining in *BTC terms.* The whales can then cash their "alts" out for more BTC than they started with. And so they "make BTC" 🙂 — Chris Burniske (@cburniske) May 10, 2019

In his associated Twitter thread, Burniske didn’t mention any specific altcoin by name — “pick your alt,” he said.

Yet the possible tinderbox conditions around Chainlink seems to make it precisely the kind of “depressed” altcoin that could help lead the cryptoeconomy’s next altcoin cycle if the bitcoin price continues to push up.

Nothing is guaranteed in crypto, and it’s impossible to say what will happen next in these markets. But in the very least, it’s clear Chainlink is an interesting project to watch going forward.