Investors may be underestimating one of the most important pieces of crypto infrastructure, according to Bitwise.
Chainlink (LINK), trading at $12.25 with a market capitalization near $10 billion, is among Bitwise’s highest-conviction holdings. Yet it rarely appears in mainstream crypto discussions—a gap the firm attributes not to weak fundamentals, but to the complexity of the asset.
“I believe it is one of the least understood, most important, and possibly most undervalued crypto assets,” said Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise, in a Tuesday blog post.
Chainlink is commonly described as middleware that delivers real-world data—such as asset prices or event outcomes—to blockchains. While accurate, Hougan says this label barely scratches the surface. Calling it a “data oracle” is like calling Amazon a bookstore, he argues.
Launched in 2017 by Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis, Chainlink is a decentralized network connecting smart contracts to off-chain data. By enabling blockchains to securely access external information, it has emerged as a critical infrastructure layer linking blockchain ecosystems with real-world systems.
Hougan emphasizes that Chainlink allows blockchains—otherwise isolated systems—to interact with markets, institutions, and one another. Without it, these networks resemble offline spreadsheets: capable of computation but unable to access the data needed to function in financial markets.
The institutional case is clear. Stablecoins rely on Chainlink for price feeds, proof-of-reserves, and cross-chain transfers. Tokenized stocks and bonds depend on it for pricing, compliance, and settlement. DeFi applications, prediction markets, and on-chain derivatives cannot operate without reliable external data.
Chainlink has quietly gained adoption among both crypto-native and traditional institutions, including SWIFT, DTCC, JPMorgan, Visa, Mastercard, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Euroclear, and Deutsche Börse.
“For investors bullish on stablecoins, tokenization, DeFi, or real-world crypto adoption,” Hougan concluded, “Chainlink sits at the center of all of it.
