Chainlink has seen a dramatic increase in its prices, soaring by over 36% to reach almost a two-year high. The cryptocurrency peaked at $26 during late trading on Dec. 2, marking the highest it has been since January 2022. The surge is impressive, given that the price of LINK was below $11 in early November. The asset has since cooled, trading at just over $24 during the Tuesday morning Asian session, according to Coingecko.
This recent upswing can be attributed to a partnership announced on Dec. 2 between Chainlink and 21X, a fintech firm based in Frankfurt. The partnership aims to create Europe’s first EU-regulated financial market infrastructure for tokenized securities. The platform, slated for launch in Q1 2025, will operate under the supervision of Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and will leverage Chainlink’s technology for an array of crucial functions.
These functions include providing secure and accurate price data feeds for listed products, enabling cross-chain interoperability through Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), and facilitating access to assets and stablecoins across multiple blockchain protocols.
Max Heinzle, founder and CEO of 21X, hailed the partnership as a significant step towards launching “Europe’s first tokenized securities market infrastructure under the EU’s DLT Regime.” This partnership aims to foster institutional adoption of tokenized securities, enabling smart contract-based issuance, trading, and settlement of stocks, bonds, and funds.
Angie Walker, Global Head of Banking and Capital Markets at Chainlink Labs, stated that by leveraging the Chainlink standard, 21X would underpin its matching and settlement system with highly accurate and reliable market data, while CCIP would enable users to access a wide variety of assets from across the digital asset economy.
Further buoying Chainlink’s momentum was a retweeted November blog post detailing its progress with traditional financial institutions and banks. Some of these partnerships include major players such as Swift, JPMorgan, Citi Group, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, Lloyds, ANZ Bank, and BNY Mellon.
Adding to the discourse, ecosystem ambassador Zach Rynes suggested that LINK was more of a ‘bank coin’ than XRP. He criticized Ripple for repackaging well-established concepts and presenting them as new, before outlining Chainlink’s ties with traditional finance in a separate post.
In conclusion, Chainlink’s price surge is not an isolated event but a reflection of its strategic partnerships and the increasing acceptance of its technology. As the digital asset economy continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how Chainlink and its partners shape its future.
