Chainlink Social Volume Hits 5-Week High After Data Streams Upgrade

The recent spike in social volume for Chainlink follows directly from a significant technical upgrade. The project enhanced its Data Streams service to deliver near real-time US stock and ETF prices 24 hours a day, five days a week. This development is not a minor iteration; it directly targets a core limitation in the tokenization of traditional financial markets. By allowing DeFi protocols to track pre-market, regular, after-hours, and overnight trading sessions, Chainlink is providing the critical, high-frequency data infrastructure required to bring equities and ETFs on-chain with fidelity.

This infrastructure narrative is driving the conversation. According to data from Santiment, the spike in social volume occurred even as the wider crypto market, including Bitcoin (BTC), remained under pressure. This divergence suggests investors and traders are scrutinizing Chainlink for its utility and expanding role in tokenized finance, rather than viewing it as just another altcoin moving in lockstep with the market leader. The upgrade positions Chainlink as a central pillar for the next wave of financial innovation on blockchain.

While social volume indicates high engagement, the nature of the discussion reveals a nuanced sentiment. Santiment’s data shows that over the past month, the ratio of selling-focused versus buying-focused mentions for LINK has been steadily rising. Furthermore, bearish commentary is approaching levels not seen in more than a year. This indicates that the heightened attention is increasingly weighted toward caution or skepticism, potentially reflecting trader uncertainty about near-term token performance despite bullish developments.

However, this cautious social sentiment stands in stark contrast to Chainlink’s unwavering development momentum. By several metrics, including weekly significant GitHub events, Chainlink continues to rank as the top developing DeFi project by a wide margin. This development activity has trended upward consistently since the project’s launch, signaling a long-term commitment to building out its software platform regardless of short-term market or social media fluctuations.

Amid this backdrop of high engagement and mixed sentiment, a compelling counter-narrative is emerging from industry leaders. Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan recently argued that Chainlink is one of the most important yet misunderstood crypto assets and that it may be ‘deeply undervalued.’ His comments followed Bitwise’s quiet launch of a new Chainlink Exchange-Traded Product (ETP).

Hougan challenges the common perception of Chainlink as ‘just a data oracle.’ He instead frames it as a fast-growing software platform that performs the essential function of connecting blockchains to each other and to real-world data and systems. In this view, Chainlink holds a dominant market share across key infrastructure services and is the backbone supporting major crypto sectors like stablecoins, DeFi, tokenization, and prediction markets.

This thesis is bolstered by a roster of institutional adopters that reads like a who’s who of traditional finance. Hougan points to integrations and collaborations with SWIFT, JPMorgan, Visa, Fidelity, and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). This level of adoption by legacy financial giants underscores Chainlink’s proven utility and suggests its value proposition extends far beyond the volatile crypto-native markets, anchoring it in the broader future of financial infrastructure.