Chainlink Shifts Build Rewards to LINK and Logs Record Network Growth

Chainlink announced a restructuring of its Build program, ending token‑based rewards and moving all new commercial agreements to payments in LINK or other liquid assets. The program, which supported more than 80 projects and distributed roughly $20 million in project tokens, will close its final Rewards season on July 7 2026. Proceeds from the new agreements will be programmatically converted to LINK and directed to the Chainlink Reserve, creating a direct economic feedback loop for the network.

In June 2026 the Chainlink network recorded its two strongest on‑chain growth days of the year, with 3,142 and 3,040 new LINK wallets created on June 25‑26. Non‑micro wallets (holding at least 1 LINK) rose to about 535,000, the highest level since December 2022, while wallets holding 1,000+ LINK reached a yearly high of 25,420. Large‑holder wallets (100,000+ LINK) also hit an all‑time high of 805, an 8.2% increase over seven weeks. This growth persisted through a quarterly token unlock of roughly 21 million LINK worth about $166 million.

Separately, DTCC confirmed its Collateral AppChain will run on Chainlink technology in Q4 2026, marking the deepest institutional validation for the oracle token to date. The partnership covers tokenization of Russell 1000 stocks, prime ETFs and U.S. government debt via Chainlink’s CCIP protocol. Despite the activity, LINK price remained near $7, down about 86% from its all‑time high, and market capitalisation fell from roughly $8.6 billion to $5.3 billion in 2026.