Chainlink - A Blockchain Oracle, a decentralized blockchain network built on Ethereum, the bridge between real-world sources and on-chain smart contracts.

LINK is the native token of Chainlink.

The Origin of Chainlink

The Chainlink network was created by Steve Ellis and Sergey Nazarov in 2017, later, they published Chainlink’s white paper in September of the same year with Ari Juels-an advisor of the company who is a Cornell University professor. The original goal of Chainlink is to build a 'bridge' between blockchain and off-chain environments. In 2018, Town Crier was integrated by Chainlink, Town Crier connects the blockchain with web sources. It provides the solution to the major problem in the blockchain world. Before Chainlink, the blockchain network could not connect to external data resources that exist off-chain. On March 2019, Chainlink's trademark was registered in the Cayman Islands, the corporation created being Smartcontract Chainlink Sezc Ltd.

How Does Chainlink Work

There are three steps of Chainlink's works

1. Oracle Selection, the Chainlink users draft a service-level agreement that specifies a set of desired data requirements, the software will match the agreements with Oracles that can provide the data. Then users will need to submit the agreements and deposit the LINK token in an Order-Matching contract.

2. Data Reporting, oracles will link with real-world data and send it back to the Chainlink blockchain.

3. Result Aggregation, using the sum of all the data which was received, and assessing the validity of each. After that, it will return a weighted reward to the oracles.

For example, OpenLaw is developing smart-contract-based legal agreements and is using a Chainlink oracle to determine exchange rates between ETH and USD at a given time.

LINK

LINK's value comes from its ability to ensure the successful execution of smart contracts that depend on the Chainlink network. LINK is used as a deposit required by the smart contract creators and Oracle will pay for it. This fee will be refunded if Oracle's services are not accepted or as soon as they complete the task. The smart contract creators keep the fee if an oracle fails to complete the contract. In addition, the amount of LINK an oracle holds is the main factor determining its reputation. There is a limited supply of LINK. According to the rules, there will only ever be 1 billion LINK.

The Price of LINK

In September 2017, there were 1 bln of LINK tokens launched. 35% were allocated to a public sale at a price of $0.09 - $0.11. In two year time, LINK never went higher than $1.30. Then, in 2019, it skyrocketed 489% to $5 after Chainlink's flurry of new partnerships with Google Cloud, Polygon Network and Reserve. it skyrocketed 489% to $5. In August 2020, LINK price was raised over $20 for the first time. Between December 2020 and May 2021, LINK reached an all-time high of $52.88 with crazy cryptocurrency trading. After that, LINK has fallen with the cryptocurrency market without exception. The price of LINK dropped to about $8 in the middle of 2022.

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