Instituional Appetite for LINK on the Rise as Grayscale Chainlink Trust Sees 200% Premium

Grayscale’s Chainlink Trust – GLNK – has surged to a premium of 200% when compared to the current LINK market prices. GLNK has seen a remarkable surge of almost 100% in the last week, concluding at $39 on Monday, up from its level of $21 on October 31.

It is also important to note that LINK’s price has more than doubled over the last three weeks amidst the broader cryptocurrency market recovery.

Institutional Demand Pushes GLNK to 200% Premium

According to CoinMarketCap, the 12th-largest crypto by market cap was up by approximately 25% over the past week alone and was currently trading at $13.50.

The spread was first observed by popular Chainlink influencer ChainLinkGod, who highlighted that Grayscale trusts are non-redeemable. This essentially implies that they are a “one-way door” and cannot be “efficiently arbitraged against the spot market” despite the asset manager’s attempt to convert its GBTC product into a redeemable spot ETF.

He noted that while the AUM of GLNK is only around $4 million, it’s interesting to see the surge in demand for a product geared toward institutional investors. Moreover, CoinShares’ report revealed that the product attracted $2 million worth of inflows over the last week

Catalyst for LINK Gains

LINK’s monthly surge of over 85% has several factors at play. For one, non-zero LINK balances have skyrocketed, suggesting increased on-chain activity.

The whale accumulation appears to be strong as well, with one such entity purchasing an astonishing 312,901 LINK. According to Lookonchain, the whale in question bought over 3.81 million worth of LINK tokens this week.

The adoption of Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) by institutions, as well as cross-chain projects, could be yet another factor pushing LINK’s price. Heralded as the “new gold standard” for cross-chain interoperability, CCIP went live on Mainnet Early Access in July and has been incorporated across Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, and Base.

Global financial messaging network SWIFT also announced successfully carrying out a range of blockchain interoperability tests with multiple financial institutions such as Citi, SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), BNP Paribas, and BNY Mellon using the protocol.

CCIP is also being leveraged for value exchange in Hong Kong’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) trials.