Chainlink whale activity hits five-month high as holders watch for breakout
- Santiment recorded 246 LINK transactions of $100,000 or more in 24 hours on August 12, the highest daily count in five months.
- Whale activity often leads price and it coincided with a near-5% rally.
- Standard Chartered set a $200 long-term target for LINK.
Santiment flashed green lights for Chainlink holders looking for bullish signals as the firm’s on-chain analytics tracking picked up a surge in whale activity over the last 24 hours, which it historically linked to price runs.
According to Santiment’s August 12 report, 246 separate LINK transfers worth at least $100,000 were processed on the Chainlink network, rounding out the most stacked day for large transactions in five months.
LINK was trading at $8.80 as of this Cryptopolitan report, up 1.69% on the day and in line with a year of flat price action.
Standard Chartered is bullish as money moves on Chainlink
As Santiment interpreted the signal, transfers in the 100,000 to 10 million LINK range ($880,000 to $8.8 million) mean that serious money is moving on the network. Santiment did not specify where it was moving from or where it landed.
However, the signal turns bullish when parsed with LINK breaking above a descending trendline with its 5% climb on August 11 toward the $9 mark.
Standard Chartered sees a much longer runway for the token. Its August 10 analysis set a $200 target for Chainlink by the end of 2030, with near-term targets of $13 in 2026 and $41 in 2027.
Standard Chartered tethered its call around Chainlink becoming an anchor for the financial assets being onboarded to public blockchains, and a scenario where the tokenized asset market grows to about $4 trillion by 2028.
Chainlink remains popular despite price lag
LINK is down about 83% from its May 2021 price record of $52.88, but its utility is near its all-time high.
Cryptopolitan reported in June that Chainlink launched Project Pangea with 47 South Korean and European banks to settle foreign exchange trades in near real-time. Before that, it had secured arrangements with DTCC, Robinhood, and asset manager Amundi. The DTCC confirmed in May that its Collateral AppChain will run on Chainlink’s Runtime Environment, targeting a Q4 2026 launch.
Through all of those integrations and infrastructure expansions, LINK has oscillated between $8 and $10 for most of the year, as Cryptopolitan noted.
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FAQs
How many large LINK transactions did Santiment record?
Santiment counted 246 separate LINK transfers worth $100,000 or more within 24 hours on August 12, 2026, which it called the highest daily level in five months.
What is Standard Chartered's price target for Chainlink?
Standard Chartered initiated coverage of Chainlink with a $200 target for the end of 2030, based on an expectation that the tokenized-asset market reaches roughly $4 trillion by 2028.
Why hasn't LINK's price risen alongside Chainlink's institutional deals?
Cryptopolitan reported that LINK stayed in an $8 to $10 range for most of 2026, about 82% below its all-time high, even after partnerships with the DTCC, Robinhood, and the 47-bank Project Pangea group, with risk-off macro conditions weighing on the token.
Disclaimer. The information provided is not trading advice. Cryptopolitan.com holds no liability for any investments made based on the information provided on this page. We strongly recommend independent research and/or consultation with a qualified professional before making any investment decisions.
Hannah Collymore
Hannah is a writer and editor with nearly a decade of blog writing and event reporting experience in the crypto space. At Cryptopolitan, Hannah contributes to the news page, reporting and analyzing the latest developments in DeFi, RWA, crypto regulation, AI and frontier tech industries. She graduated from Arcadia university with a degree in Business Administration.
