- Arca recently shared a thread on X breaking down how Chainlink’s infrastructure works, calling it the TCP/IP of value.
- Chainlink has already secured over $20 trillion in total value, which was enabled just in Q1 2025 through its decentralized oracle network.
Chainlink is the bridge between blockchain and the real world. It’s a decentralized oracle network that feeds real-world data, like stock prices, weather updates, or even identity verification, directly into smart contracts. This allows those contracts to actually respond to real events, making them usable for things like insurance payouts, fair gameplay in blockchain-based games, and accurate pricing in DeFi derivatives.
In a recent thread on X, crypto analyst Arca put it perfectly: “Chainlink’s addressable market isn’t just massive—it’s borderless. No product or platform in history has had a TAM this global, this deep, and this cross-industry.” In other words, Chainlink isn’t just growing—it might not even have a ceiling.
The Core Tools Behind LINK
Chainlink’s infrastructure powers critical systems across industries. From banks and governments to capital markets, insurance, gaming, Artificial Intelligence (AI), IoT, and even Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and TradFi, LINK is the engine connecting real-world data to smart contracts. Whether it’s verifying prices, triggering payouts, or connecting off-chain information to blockchain logic, Chainlink is the bridge.
Arca further explained that Chainlink is the middleware when it comes to data feeds. As CNF has reported in a previous article, Data Feeds deliver real-time information like crypto prices and market rates directly to smart contracts. Secure Computation, powered by Chainlink’s decentralized oracle networks (DONs), allows sensitive data processing off-chain while keeping it trust-minimized. Cross-chain messaging, enabled by Chainlink Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), lets different blockchains communicate and transfer data or assets securely.
The trader also mentions real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. In this, Chainlink ensures trusted data inputs, like valuations, ownership, or location, are verifiably attached to tokenized assets. Dynamic automation is achieved through tools like Chainlink Automation, which lets contracts execute based on real-world triggers without manual input. Chainlink also powers Proof of Reserves, where it verifies that centralized institutions like stablecoin issuers or custodians. Even KYC enforcement can be handled by feeding in identity verification data to smart contracts via secure oracles.
To give perspective, he lays out a comparison. Think of how AWS powers the $1.4 trillion cloud industry, how Visa processes global payments worth $500 billion to $1 trillion, how Microsoft dominates multi-trillion-dollar enterprise software, and how Palantir manages $120–200 billion worth of sensitive government and corporate data. Each of these giants owns a key piece of our digital economy.
He goes on to say,” LINK? It touches all of these sectors and unifies them. Every blockchain = a silo without Chainlink. Every smart contract = blind without data. Every AI, bank, insurer, and gov system = disconnected without oracles. LINK is creating the trust layer for the Internet of value.” He then describes Chainlink as the TCP/IP of value because it plays the same foundational role for Web3 that TCP/IP did for the internet.
Just like TCP/IP allowed websites, servers, and devices to communicate seamlessly across the web, Chainlink enables blockchains, banks, protocols, and real-world systems to connect and agree on shared data, essentially allowing them to “speak the same truth.” Chainlink’s current price sits at $13.64, up 4.08% in the past 24 hours and 0.33% in the last week.
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