The Chainlink Team Has Started Mass Selling Its LINK Tokens, But Why?

Chainlink is definitely not exit-scamming, but it seems that the team is not taking any chances at these current prices. The team wallet has been sending LINK in 700,000 chunks since 9 days ago as seen on Etherscan. So far, 2.8M LINK has been sent out from the team wallet. The succeeding wallet is then sending them to exchanges in 50,000 LINK batches. Now, this was to be expected. According to the token distribution, around 35% of token holdings are earmarked for future project developments. With the team increasing its staff for “engineering, product, design, legal, market, and more,” it seems that the money will go towards funding this expansion.

We’re thrilled to announce that in order to meet increased demand for Chainlink, we’re now actively expanding our team. We're excited about adding great people to our team for engineering, product, design, legal, marketing and more https://t.co/ajO72106wb

— Chainlink – Official Channel (@chainlink) July 6, 2019

So far, the team has sold less than 1% of its planned holdings for the expansion. However, given that 35% is expected to be sold in total, this is looking especially bad for short-term LINK holders. Moreover, the team selling at this price is an indicator that the local top may be in. Keep in mind, LINK was never intended to be more than a utility token. The recent surge has been fueled by speculation which is why the team has started selling their token now, capitalizing on this upsurge before it falls back to its “fair price.” Given its recent price explosion, it’s still unclear at what price point LINK will stabilize at. The floor has yet to be found. As of now, LINK’s price is irrelevant to its functioning as a utility token, at least until deposits and penalties are implemented with real-world uses. However, some see the team cashing out as an indication that they don’t trust the current market sentiment, causing some to lose faith. Arguably, the current controversy surrounding LINK has little to do with its use-case. It’s clear that the technology works, having been noticed by IBM and other major firms. Instead, it has more to do with its price point: does a useful oracle technology, at this stage, really need to have a valuation in the billions of dollars? Does a highly-volatile LINK token work against its planned uses? These are the questions holders should be asking themselves. Sometimes, a token’s price may be decoupled from its actual real-world application, especially when the price is not connected to a proper incentive. Do you believe LINK has reached its local top? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.