What happened
As of 10 a.m. ET, Chainlink (LINK -2.25%) is the best-performing top-25 cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Chainlink is up 12.6% over the past 24 hours on two key catalysts investors are pricing in today.
The key announcement driving outsize interest in Chainlink is the network's move to update its roadmap to include staking. The ability to earn passive income via owning Chainlink is something investors seem to like today. This implementation is projected to take place in the second half of 2022 and usher in a new era of "Chainlink Economics 2.0," which the company hopes will improve growth and security on the Chainlink network.
Image source: Getty Images.
This news builds on a previous announcement last week about Chainlink Price Feeds, already in use in a number of high-profile projects, being picked up by Solana.
So what
From a security and growth perspective, staking is generally considered to be a core piece of the puzzle for many crypto projects. Chainlink's staking implementation brings rewards and penalties to validators to ensure the network runs as it should.
Thus far, Chainlink's focus has been on building out its price feeds and oracle technology, which is becoming ubiquitous in the crypto world. Many investors have cheered this move, with staking being seemingly viewed as a feature that could be added later.
However, Chainlink's decision to add staking to its network is one the market appears to be interpreting as a step in the right direction. The initial staking pool of 25 million tokens will launch this year, with the network expected to expand this staking pool to around 75 million tokens down the road.
Now what
For existing LINK investors, this news appears positive. The way Chainlink is looking to implement staking appears consistent with the project's goals of delivering long-term value. Long-term investors, and a broader range of community members, will be enticed to participate in this program, which may improve Chainlink's sustainability over time.
I think this move has been a long time coming. And while I think it's great that the developer team behind Chainlink took its time building out the price feeds, it's clear the market is viewing this news positively.
For investors looking for tokens with near-term catalysts, Chainlink is clearly one to keep on the radar right now.
