- LINK jumped 3.6% to $16.96 amid strong institutional buying near a key support level.
- Stellar joined the Chainlink Scale program, integrating CCIP, Data Feeds and Data Streams.
- Stellar reported $5.4B in RWA volume and 700% growth in smart contract activity in Q3 2025.
The native Chainlink token, LINK, bounced 3.6% on Friday, rising to $16.96 as institutional buyers stepped in near a major support area.
The bounce followed robust trading volume, with more than 3 million tokens changing hands during the morning breakout.
Importantly, payment-focused blockchain Stellar announced a major integration with a suite of Chainlink services, including the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), Data Feeds and Data Streams.
That collaboration signals growing institutional demand for secure financial infrastructure and positions both networks to capture a share of the expanding real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market, which analysts project could reach $2 trillion by 2028.
Stellar’s strategic play into RWA and DeFi
Stellar’s decision to join Chainlink’s Scale program marks a significant strategic move for the payments-focused chain.
The integration gives Stellar developers and institutional users access to battle-tested infrastructure that supports more than $100 billion in total value locked across DeFi protocols.
Timing is favorable. Stellar reported impressive growth metrics in Q3 2025, recording $5.4 billion in real-world asset transaction volume.
The network also saw a 700% quarter-over-quarter surge in smart contract calls and welcomed a 37% increase in full-time developers.
Those metrics reflect a fast-expanding ecosystem hungry for institutional-grade tools to bridge traditional finance and blockchain infrastructure.
With Chainlink CCIP, Stellar developers can move assets across chains without rewriting smart contracts. That simplifies complex cross-chain operations—like cross-chain lending and yield farming—into single atomic processes.
Data Feeds and Data Streams complement CCIP by providing reliable, real-time pricing and data—critical for DeFi protocols managing significant capital flows.
Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick recently projected a $2 trillion DeFi tokenization boom by 2028, driven by surging demand for tokenized equities, funds and money market products built on stablecoins.
Stellar’s adoption of Chainlink technology places it to capture part of that trend, particularly as Wall Street institutions increasingly explore tokenized assets.
What it means for LINK’s technical picture
The 3.6% bounce lifted LINK above a critical technical level, although weakness during U.S. trading hours pulled the token back below the $17 mark.
Traders are watching support at $16.37, with near-term upside targets at $17.46 and $18.00.
Technical analysts note LINK appears to be emerging from an oversold setup.
The Relative Strength Index recently hovered at levels that suggest fading downward momentum, while Bollinger Bands placed LINK near the lower band—an indicator that can precede a reversal.
A 78% spike in volume during the breakout confirms institutional participation, though short-term profit-taking created some retracement.
Looking further out, crypto analysts expect LINK to trade between $16.77 and $18.79 in November 2025, with potential upside toward $20–$25 if buyers sustain momentum above key resistance.
Stellar’s integration underscores that Chainlink’s enterprise-grade technology adoption remains strong despite recent price weakness.
Whether LINK extends its bounce largely depends on broader crypto market sentiment and continued institutional demand around the current support zone.