Why Chainlink’s LINK Token Isn’t “Broken” — It’s Entering a New Value Phase

• Investors in the cryptocurrency market have been conditioned to expect every token to go parabolic within a year or two of launch.
• Chainlink’s combined strength of CCIP, the reserve system, the staking framework, and adoption will be the key drivers that propel LINK’s value.

Rick Barber, a long-time Chainlink supporter, recently posted a thread on X addressing one of the most persistent questions surrounding the project: “If Chainlink keeps landing major integrations, influencing regulators, and positioning itself as core infrastructure for the digital economy, then why hasn’t the LINK price taken off?”

According to Barber, Chainlink’s price behavior is misunderstood because investors tend to evaluate it through the same lens as speculative tokens. “LINK is an infrastructure asset,” he explained, “and it follows a completely different value cycle.”

He argues that most of the crypto market is trained to expect price pumps first and fundamentals later, a formula that works for meme coins and trend-driven projects, but not for foundational protocols like Chainlink.

Barber also addressed one of Chainlink’s most common criticisms: its token emissions model. Some critics claim the gradual release of new LINK tokens is suppressing the price. Barber disagrees, calling this view a misunderstanding of how sustainable networks are built.

He compared Chainlink’s emissions to Bitcoin’s (BTC) and Ethereum’s (ETH) block rewards, explaining that all major decentralized networks rely on controlled issuance to secure and grow the ecosystem. Barber said. “It’s not dumping, it’s long-term fuel for a global network that’s still early.”

Chainlink’s Infrastructure

The analyst then pointed out, “Companies like Cisco and Amazon didn’t moon the moment they launched, they built for years, became essential, and then valuations caught up.” The same principle applies to Chainlink, whose second phase is actively unfolding across several key areas.

Its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) is live across multiple blockchains like Aptos, Arbitrum (ARB), Avalanche (AVAX), Base, BNB Chain (BNB), ETH, and Optimism (OP).

CCIP has already seen collaborations with SWIFT, the global interbank network that moves over $5 trillion daily, to test tokenized asset transfers, with ANZ Bank, BNP Paribas, and Citi participating in cross-chain tokenization trials using the infrastructure.

Chainlink Data Feeds also serves as a backbone of its oracle network, providing secure, real-time, and tamper-proof price data from off-chain sources to on-chain smart contracts. The Chainlink Reserve launched on August 7 and began accumulating LINK.

This was part of the network’s strategy to convert service and partnership revenues into LINK to support liquidity, staking, and operational stability. The reserve currently holds 586,641 LINK, valued at roughly $10.2 million.

Similarly, CNF reported that Proof of Reserve (PoR) extends Chainlink’s oracle technology to verify the real-time backing of tokenized assets like gold, treasuries, and stablecoins, ensuring transparency and trust as asset tokenization accelerates.

With these tools in place, Rick said,

CNF also confirmed that the number of LINK holders has steadily increased over the past year, with wallets collectively accumulating around 40 million LINK.

At the same time, the network has experienced a surge in real-world asset (RWA) activity, surpassing platforms like Hedera, Avalanche (AVAX), VeChain (VET), and Stellar (XLM).

Chainlink’s price has shown notable strength, trading at $18.03 with a 0.81% daily rise and nearly an 8% gain over the past week. Market analysts like Ali Martinez suggest that a decisive breakout above $20 could pave the way for LINK’s next rally, potentially toward $100.