Crypto Whales Ramp Up Chainlink Accumulation as Second LINK ETF Goes Live

Crypto whales are increasing their exposure to Chainlink (LINK) as the second spot ETF tied to the altcoin entered the market this week.

The increase in institutional and large-holder activity signals growing confidence in Chainlink’s outlook. Despite this, LINK has declined by more than 1% over the past 24 hours, in line with the broader market downturn.

Bitwise Chainlink ETF Debuts With $2.59 Million in Inflows

The Bitwise Chainlink ETF (ticker: CLNK) started trading on NYSE Arca on January 14. CLNK operates with a 0.34% management fee. However, Bitwise is waiving this fee for the first three months on up to $500 million in assets.

“Chainlink provides the essential oracle infrastructure that bridges that gap, powering the risk management and financial decision-making necessary for mainstream adoption. With CLNK, investors now have a new way to invest in this foundational layer of the blockchain economy,” Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise stated.

According to data from SoSoValue, opening day saw $2.59 million in net inflows. The fund’s net assets reached $5.18 million, and trading volume totaled $3.24 million.

The launch marks the second US spot ETF directly tied to LINK. Grayscale’s Chainlink Trust ETF (GLNK), which debuted in early December, attracted $37.05 million in inflows on its first day.

By comparison, Bitwise’s initial inflows appear modest. Even so, the ETF’s debut has pushed total LINK ETF net assets to $95.87 million, bringing the figure closer to the $100 million mark.

LINK Whales Step Up Accumulation

Beyond institutional interest, Chainlink is also drawing attention from crypto whales. On-chain data shows that a single whale wallet (0x10D9) withdrew 139,950 LINK from Binance, valued at approximately $1.96 million.

This follows an earlier accumulation phase in which the same wallet withdrew 202,607 LINK, worth around $2.7 million, from the exchange.

“Now the whale holds 3,42,557 $LINK worth $4.81 million accumulated in the past 2 days,” Onchain Lens posted.

Moreover, Onchain Lens flagged another whale wallet, 0xb59, which withdrew 207,328 LINK worth approximately $2.78 million on January 12.

The rise in whale interest is not an isolated development. BeInCrypto reported last week that large holders were accumulating LINK in sizable amounts. According to Nansen data, whale wallet balances increased by 1.37% over the past week, while exchange-held LINK balances fell by 1% during the same period.

This divergence suggests that large investors are moving tokens off exchanges and into self-custody, a pattern typically associated with long-term accumulation rather than short-term trading.

Nonetheless, broader market pressures have continued to weigh on LINK. BeInCrypto Markets data showed that the altcoin has dropped 1.2% over the past day. At the time of writing, LINK traded at $13.8.

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