Whales seem to be going big on Chainlink (LINK). According to the data shared by Santiment, shark and whale addresses holding between 1K to 1 million LINK tokens have “entered an unprecedented surge of accumulation.” The crypto analysis firm noted that the shark and whale addresses have accumulated 26.8 million LINK tokens worth $194.3 million in just two months.
According to LookOnChain, an unidentified institution accumulated $107.6 million worth of Chainlink (LINK) over 14 days. The whales paid an average price of $7.2 per coin for 14.3 million tokens.
Whale accumulation skyrocketed in the last two weeks. Consequently, the cost of LINK has risen by 23.3% in the same time frame.
Due to the heavy accumulation, Chainlink (LINK) is now the top 10 most purchased tokens among BSC whales.
Why the sudden interest in Chainlink?
The increased interest in LINK could be attributed to the upcoming launch of LINK staking, which launches tomorrow. As such, whales could be anticipating a surge in prices.
According to Nansen, some “smart money” wallets are taking their LINK tokens off exchanges. This could be an indication that the wallets may be preparing to stake their tokens. Wallets are deemed “smart money” by Nansen if they have a history of profitability.
Early access to Chainlink Staking v0.1 begins on December 6 at noon ET, and general access begins on December 8. Initially set at 25 million LINK, Chainlink Staking v0.1 will eventually expand up to 75 million LINK, according to a Chainlink blog post.
At press time, LINK was trading at $7.25, down by 3.6% in the last 24 hours. Furthermore, the token is down by 86.3% from its all-time high of $52.70, attained on May 10th, 2021. Many predict Chainlink (LINK) to reach a high of $8.13 sometime this year and $28.33 in 2025.