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- Grayscale has described Chainlink’s infrastructure as an important tool in the growth of the tokenisation market.
- The Chainlink CCIP enables secure communication and value transfer between different blockchains.
Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale Investments, and Michael Zhao, Vice President in the Product and Research Group, released a research report titled “The Link Between Worlds.” The report opens by explaining that blockchains have the potential to transform finance, but their impact depends on strong connections to real-world assets and systems.
According to the authors, Chainlink is “the critical connective tissue between crypto and traditional finance.”
The Chainlink Solution
Grayscale emphasises that Chainlink’s potential lies in its role in tokenisation. Over time, Chainlink has enhanced its impact by collaborating with leading financial institutions. For example, S&P Global Ratings currently releases its Stablecoin Stability Assessments (SSAs) on-chain via Chainlink.
FTSE Russell uses Chainlink DataLink to publish its financial indices on-chain, with the system now supporting over $25 trillion in transaction volume and helping secure nearly $100 billion in DeFi value.
According to the aforementioned report, Chainlink addresses several bottlenecks in decentralised finance with its suite of components. One of them is its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), which lets different blockchains communicate and move value reliably.
Another component is Proof of Reserve (PoR), which CNF has previously explained that it verifies data in real time, helping power nations, markets, and protocols. PoR helps reduce risks such as “infinite mint” attacks or under-collateralization.
Importantly, the research adds that,
“LINK is the largest asset by market capitalisation in the Utilities & Services Crypto Sector, the ‘picks and shovels’ of on-chain finance.[11]LINK is also the largest asset in crypto that is not a Layer 1 token.”
Grayscale’s Chainlink ETF
The timing of Grayscale’s research coincides with a major strategic push: the company has filed an S‑1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to convert its Grayscale Chainlink Trust, which is managing about US$29 million, into a spot Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).
If approved, the ETF would trade on NYSE Arca under the ticker GLNK. Notably, the proposal includes a staking component that could allow third-party providers to stake assets while they remain in custody.
Over the past week, LINK has dropped by 17%, with a slight decline of 0.6% in the last 24 hours. It is currently trading at $12.41, maintaining a market capitalisation of around $8 billion. As we discussed earlier, despite these short-term recent dips, analysts are still eyeing potential price targets as high as $50.
