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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.
The post Crypto Whales Ramp Up Chainlink Accumulation as Second $LINK ETF Goes Live appeared first on BeInCrypto.