Chainlink’s Staking Program Hits $600M Cap

Chainlink, the leading blockchain data-oracle project, has witnessed an overwhelming response to its newly expanded crypto-staking program. Within a mere six hours of its early-access launch, the program successfully attracted over $632 million in LINK tokens, reaching its full capacity, as stated in a company press release.

The “V0.2” community staking mechanism, which opened for early access from 12 p.m. ET, saw an immediate and substantial uptake. Astonishingly, within the first 30 minutes, about 32.8 million LINK were staked. By the six-hour mark, the community pool had reached its enhanced capacity of 40.875 million LINK.

This enthusiastic participation in the staking program coincided with a notable 12% increase in the price of LINK over the past 24 hours, reaching $16.72, according to data from CoinDesk. This price movement underscores the positive market response to Chainlink’s staking program and the broader confidence in the project.

The expanded staking pool now boasts a capacity of 45 million LINK, a significant increase from the 25 million cap under the previous version (v0.1). This total includes allocations for both the community pool and a separate node operator pool. As per a Chainlink spokesperson, the node operator pool currently holds 1.8 million LINK of its 4.125 million capacity. Additionally, there was a migration of 21.9 million LINK from the earlier staking program iteration.

The staking program is a core component of Chainlink’s Economics 2.0 initiative, designed to enhance the security and functionality of the Chainlink network. Through staking, node operators—who play a crucial role in sourcing external data—and community members can contribute to the robustness of oracle services. Participants also have the opportunity to earn rewards for their involvement.

“Staking v0.2 introduces important new security features and sets the system up for even further growth in the year to come,” stated Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, in the press release. This expansion of the staking program not only adds new layers of security to the Chainlink ecosystem but also paves the way for its continued growth and evolution in the blockchain space.

The rapid filling of Chainlink’s staking program capacity is a testament to the strong community support and trust in the platform. The impressive surge in LINK’s price following this development highlights the positive market sentiment towards Chainlink’s ongoing efforts to strengthen and expand its network. As Chainlink continues to innovate and grow, its staking program stands as a significant achievement in aligning community engagement with network security and performance.