The Link token

Quick take - LINK token

All LINK tokens (1B total) were issued in September 2017 at inception, which is to say that there is a finite supply.

Timeline

25 Sep 19. The LINK token is listed on the Kraken exchange. Read the full announcement HERE.

28 Jun 19. Coinbase announces support - listing for Chainlink (LINK) at Coinbase.com and in the Coinbase Android and iOS apps. Read the full announcement HERE.

16 Sep 17: Chainlink token created. At TX 0x5488510df045770efbff57f25d0c6d2c1404d58c1199b21eb8dc5072b22d91d7

20 Jul 17. Steve Ellis (Co founder of Chainlink) proposes the addition of a new function (#677) to the ERC20 (Ethereum Request for Comments) token contracts. Read the full ERC677 standard proposal HERE.

Utility

The LINK token is a "Utility Token". Utility tokens Utility tokens are tokens that have a form of functionality within the blockchain network they inhabit. At their core, utility tokens allows the owner to perform a certain action on a given network. Essentially, utility token unlocks a product, service or even both for the holder. Utility tokens can serve any purpose the developer has in mind and the tokens are required to access the service or product on the blockchain ecosystem. While coins (payment tokens) are seen as digital money, utility tokens can be compared to parts of software.

The LINK token is used to pay Chainlink node operators for their oracle services (on-chain data aggregation and submission & off-chain computation services). In addition, once Chainlink staking goes live, Chainlink node operators will be able to deposit a specific amount of LINK as collateral in order to be eligible to service specific requests. This was first outlined in the original whitepaper.

REVIEW Chainlink nodes get paid for providing oracle services in the form of user fees. Additionally, as part of a future cryptoeconomic staking model, LINK tokens can be staked as collateral to further incentivize honest oracle services. The staked LINK collateral can be subject to slashing in the event of poor performance or malicious behavior by the node, such as withholding data/computation, not delivering data on time, or supplying data that deviates a certain percentage from the DON’s overall median value.^[1]

ICO and token allocation

At launch, 35% of LINK tokens were sold, establishing an initial circulating supply of 350M.
Another 30% (300M LINK tokens) were allocated to LINK's parent company (SmartContract.com) tokens were spent on hiring, operations and development.)
The last 35% (350M tokens) are held in reserve to pay incentive rewards to network participants like node operators.

ERC677

ERC stands for Ethereum Request for Comments. Ethereum Request for Comments is an official protocol for implementing improvements to the Ethereum network. ERC standards are created by the Ethereum community developers. The developers make a document describing methods and rules that they think would improve the Ethereum ecosystem. If the core developers and community agree with the proposal, it becomes a standard.

ERC20 Tokens The ERC-20 is a Token Standard that implements an API for tokens within Smart Contracts.

It provides functionalities like, to transfer tokens from one account to another, to get the current token balance of an account and also the total supply of the token available on the network.

ERC677 ERC677 is short for ERC: transferAndCall Token Standard #677. Steve Ellis (co founder of Chainlink) opened the ERC677 issue on Jul 20, 2017. ERC677 tokens inherit functionality from the ERC20 token standard, however ERC677 also allows token transfers to contain a data payload. Essentially it is an ERC20 token with the additional TransferAndCall functionality.

ERC677 tokens can be stored in any ERC20 compatible wallet. The official ERC677 standard proposal can be found HERE.

Wallets

REVIEW NEEDED
Any wallet that handles ERC20 tokens can store LINK tokens. The ERC677 token standard that the LINK token implements still retains all functionality of ERC20 tokens.
REVIEW NEEDED

LINK Token Contract Addresses - Chain specific

	Arbitrum	0xf97f4df75117a78c1A5a0DBb814Af92458539FB4
	Avalanche	0x5947BB275c521040051D82396192181b413227A3
	Binance smart chain	0x404460c6a5ede2d891e8297795264fde62adbb75
	Ethereum	0x514910771af9ca656af840dff83e8264ecf986ca
	Fantom	0x6F43FF82CCA38001B6699a8AC47A2d0E66939407
	Gnosis	0xE2e73A1c69ecF83F464EFCE6A5be353a37cA09b2
	Harmony	0x218532a12a389a4a92fC0C5Fb22901D1c19198aA
	Huobi ECO	0x9e004545c59D359F6B7BFB06a26390b087717b42
	Metis	'0x79892E8A3Aea66C8F6893fa49eC6208ef07EC046'
	Moonbeam	0x012414A392F9FA442a3109f1320c439C45518aC3
	Moonriver	0x8b12Ac23BFe11cAb03a634C1F117D64a7f2cFD3e
	Optimism	0x350a791Bfc2C21F9Ed5d10980Dad2e2638ffa7f6
	Polygon	0xb0897686c545045afc77cf20ec7a532e3120e0f1
	RSK	0x14adae34bef7ca957ce2dde5add97ea050123827
	Solana	COMING SOON
	Terra	COMING SOON

The LINK token is an ERC677 token that inherits functionality from the ERC20 token standard and allows token transfers to contain a data payload. It is used to pay node operators for retrieving data for smart contracts and also for deposits placed by node operators as required by contract creators.

Chainlink token address https://etherscan.io/token/0x514910771af9ca656af840dff83e8264ecf986ca

Chainlink contract creation https://etherscan.io/txs?a=0x514910771af9ca656af840dff83e8264ecf986ca&f=5 Contract creation TX# 0x5488510df045770efbff57f25d0c6d2c1404d58c1199b21eb8dc5072b22d91d7 Etherscan token page: https://etherscan.io/token/0x514910771af9ca656af840dff83e8264ecf986ca Date created: Sep-16-2017 ^[2] Max Total Supply: 1,000,000,000 LINK ^[3]

[1] ttps://blog.chain.link/what-is-cryptographic-truth/

[2] ttps://etherscan.io/txs?a=0x514910771af9ca656af840dff83e8264ecf986ca&f=5

[3] ttps://etherscan.io/token/0x514910771af9ca656af840dff83e8264ecf986ca

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