 
 
LINK, the native token of the Chainlink network, has been on a tear, with its price surging by over 40% since late January, beating industry giants like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Cardano with huge margins.
Notably, the surge in LINK can be largely attributed to the increasing adoption of the network’s Cross Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP). This protocol facilitates the development of secure cross-chain applications, enabling seamless asset transfers across diverse blockchain networks.
Last week, the protocol saw integration across Avalanche (AVAX), Base network, BNB-chain, and Ethereum. This follows the recent integration of Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) with Chainlink’s CCIP, aimed at offering users a secure and reliable method for transferring USDC across chains.
Notably, the broadening scope of Chainlink’s offerings, transitioning from solely a decentralized data feed to encompassing a diverse range of use cases, has bolstered its standing within the blockchain sphere, and large investors are taking note.
In recent weeks, there has been a notable surge in the accumulation of LINK by major investors, as highlighted by experts from crypto analytics firm Lookonchain.
  
In a tweet on Wednesday, the firm reported significant withdrawals of LINK from exchanges, particularly highlighting a mysterious whale who withdrew 2,745,815 LINK worth $49.9 million from Binance across 49 newly created wallets.
This comes after the firm highlighted four other fresh wallets that withdrew 119,583 LINK valued at $2.15M from Binance on Monday. Moreover, the firm shed light on whale “0x2A19,” which has executed a significant withdrawal of 494,957 LINK, totalling $9 million, within the last 10 days. Among the notable whales engaging in recent withdrawals from exchanges is Tron founder Justin Sun, who withdrew 61,249 LINK valued at $957,000 from Binance on January 21st, following a string of other withdrawals.
Notably, accumulation activities observed among whales signal a bullish sentiment among institutional investors and large individual holders of the cryptocurrency, suggesting a continuation of the bullish trend.
Despite its recent gains, LINK encounters significant resistance levels, as highlighted by prominent crypto analyst Ali Martinez. In a tweet, Martinez mentioned potential resistance between $19.40 and $20.03, where over 8.59 million LINK is held across 5,330 addresses. Nonetheless, Martinez suggested that overcoming this resistance could trigger additional price appreciation, with the next notable resistance level at $26.87, signalling a potential 38% price surge.
At press time, LINK was trading at $18.50, experiencing a major rise of 18.47% over the past 7 days.
Source: https://zycrypto.com/whales-ramp-up-chainlink-link-accumulation-amid-explosive-price-surge/