Bitcoin has had a mixed start to the new year. The price has climbed, most likely for potentially controversial reasons—but, meanwhile, at least one minor cryptocurrency is going from strength to strength.

The bitcoin price has climbed over the first few days of 2020 but has failed to make meaningful gains and breakout of its long-running malaise, leaving many cryptocurrency traders and investors disappointed.

However, chainlink, a top 20 cryptocurrency traded under the name link boasting an $800 million market capitalization, has risen 25% already in 2020—bringing its year-on-year rise close to a staggering 500%.

The chainlink price reached its highest in late June of 2019, hitting $4.55 and up over 1800% from the start of 2019.

The massive rally was caused by interest in chainlink from China, the world’s largest bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange by volume, Binance, working with chainlink developers so-called decentralized finance products, and search giant Google using chainlink’s blockchain to bridge legacy databases.

“As with most blockchain projects in their infancy given the low liquidity initially, any surge in demand is likely to cause significant impact on price,” said Simon Peters, bitcoin and crypto analyst at investment platform eToro.

The chainlink price hits an all-time high of $4.54 back in July of last year and has since fallen … [+]

“With chainlink developers working with the likes of Swift to help connect banks to smart contracts, as well as major companies like Google, naturally this has caused excitement around the potential of the platform going forward,” Peters added.

“This has subsequently encouraged investors to buy the link token, speculating on the project’s future success. With link prices increasing over the last year, this was further compounded by the ‘fear of missing out’ phenomenon.”

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Billy Bambrough

I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world. As the founding editor of Verdict.co.uk I reported on how technology is changing business, political trends, and the latest culture and lifestyle. I have covered the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012 and have charted its emergence as a niche technology into the greatest threat to the established financial system the world has ever seen and the most important new technology since the internet itself. I have worked and written for CityAM, the Financial Times, and the New Statesman, amongst others. Follow me on Twitter @billybambrough or email me on billyATbillybambrough.com. Disclosure: I occasionally hold some small amount of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Source: https://www.forbes.com