Whale, ETF and Trump-backed DeFi help Chainlink's agency take off

Chainlink (LINK) is favored by institutional investors, with the “Whale Wallet” holding more than 100,000 LINKs hitting an all-time high of 600 in early September and adding 1.25 million LINKs in two days. Daily trading volume surged to $1 billion to $2 billion, well above the July average of $500 million. The market demand for Chainlink Cross-chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) is growing, with a single-day cross-chain transfer amount of US$130 million, including US$106 million from World Liberty Financial. The U.S. Department of Commerce partners are integrating real-world economic data into the chain. Grayscale has filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to convert its Chainlink trust into a spot ETF and may include a pledge feature. LINK is priced at around $23, and analysts predict that by 2025, its price could rise by 130%, reaching an all-time high of $53.