Chainlink Unlocks $165M Worth of Tokens, Sparking Fears of Massive Sell-Off!

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Massive Chainlink Token Unlock Sparks Sell-Off Fears

Chainlink recently unlocked 17.875 million LINK tokens, worth around $165 million, as part of its regular quarterly release, according to blockchain data.

Recently released LINK tokens, totaling 14.875 million and valued at around $125 million, were sent straight to the Binance exchange. Experts believe this often suggests a likely increase in selling pressure.

Whale Interest in LINK Rises Despite Bearish Price

According to blockchain expert EmberCN, Chainlink has transferred its remaining 4.125 million tokens – worth around $40.1 million – to a secure wallet used to distribute rewards to those who participate in staking.

Chainlink recently unlocked 19 million LINK tokens (worth $165 million) from its non-circulating supply addresses. This happens roughly every three months. Of these tokens, 14.375 million ($125 million) were sent to Binance, and 4.625 million ($40.1 million) went to a multi-signature address starting with 0xD50…8Af.

— 余烬 (@EmberCN) April 4, 2026

As a researcher, I’ve observed that while rewarding network participants with tokens is a good incentive, it presents a tricky economic problem. Chainlink essentially increases the token supply to pay those who stake their tokens, which ironically reduces the value those stakers are trying to gain. It’s a bit of a circular issue.

The increasing supply of this token is negatively impacting its price. Over the last 24 hours, it has seen a slight increase of 0.83%, reaching $8.67, according to data from BeInCrypto.

However, LINK has declined 7% over the past month and plunged 60% over the previous six months.

Even though the price of LINK has been falling, data from Santiment shows a significant increase in large LINK holders. Over the past year, the number of wallets holding at least 1 million LINK has risen by 25%, going from 100 to 125.

Santiment believes this increase in activity suggests experienced investors are preparing for a potential market turnaround, and explained that:

Right now, it might not seem like certain activity impacts price, especially with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies still facing a downturn. However, when the market starts to recover, pay attention to the assets that large investors have been secretly buying.

This isn’t surprising, as Chainlink is often seen as a vital building block for the cryptocurrency world.

In the last year, the company has begun testing with major global organizations – including Swift, Mastercard, and J.P. Morgan – to explore tokenized assets and how to connect different blockchain networks.

Chainlink is likely becoming the leading provider of blockchain solutions for businesses, however, its individual and larger investors are suffering losses due to an increase in the number of LINK tokens available.

The price of this asset will likely struggle to improve unless we see significant cuts to how much it pays out each quarter, or a clear connection between how institutions use it and how much the public wants to buy it.

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2026-04-04 18:45