Despite all the hype in the 2025 cycle, it doesn’t look like institutions are fully buying the “fundamentals-led” story.
Take Ethereum, for example: Down 11% in 2025, and still it saw strong on-chain activity.
For context, the Fuska and Pecta upgrades cut fees and eased congestion, with daily transactions even hitting a record 2.3 million, showing that the upgrades have started delivering results in the 2026 cycle so far.
Still, big money isn’t really showing up.
On-chain strength, institutional hesitation
ETF flows saw nearly $664 million in outflows this week alone. In contrast, Chainlink’s [LINK] Grayscale ETF (GLNK) pulled in $4.05 million in inflows, marking a clear divergence.
Source: SoSoValue
To put that in perspective, Ethereum’s [ETH] Grayscale Spot ETF (ETHE) saw $52 million in outflows over the same period. For Layer-1s, that kind of divergence in institutional flows doesn’t look like a short-term rotation.
Building on that, SoSoValue data showed an even clearer contrast.
Chainlink’s ETF flows continue to outpace Dogecoin’s [DOGE], whose net inflows still trail LINK, even though DOGE’s market cap is nearly 3× larger.
Technically, this suggests ETF capital rotating into Chainlink isn’t chasing short-term moves. Instead, it raises the question: Is LINK one of the few high-cap assets still seeing a fundamentals-driven institutional rally?
Chainlink pushes to hold DeFi dominance as rivalry intensifies
The 2025 cycle set the stage for bringing DeFi back to the mainstream.
Data from DeFiLlama as of press time showed total value locked (TVL) across all Layer-1s climbing to $170 billion, reclaiming the level for the first time since it was lost after the 2022 bear market, pointing to a return of on-chain liquidity.
Naturally, that growth spilled into key sectors like stablecoins, RWA, and AI.
Enter Chainlink, now part of the Global Alliance for KRW Stablecoins (GAKS), putting it right at the center of Korea’s stablecoin expansion.
Source: DeFiLlama
Put simply, Chainlink isn’t sitting out the DeFi race.
By integrating into global stablecoins (the backbone of DeFi rails), it clearly strengthens LINK’s core fundamentals in privacy, compliance, and interoperability, positioning the network as a key infrastructure player.
Meanwhile, the network’s total value secured (TVS) hit a record $70 billion in Q4 2025, reflecting the total assets powered by Chainlink’s oracles and marking a clear sign of its adoption, trust, and real-world usage.
Given this, it’s no surprise that institutional interest is picking up. In this context, Chainlink’s ETF flows appear less speculative and more fundamentally driven, making LINK a clear standout among its rivals.
Final Thoughts
- While Ethereum’s and Dogecoin’s spot ETFs saw major outflows, Chainlink continues to attract inflows, signaling institutional capital is favoring LINK over other high-cap assets.
- With TVS hitting $70 billion, global stablecoin integration, and key infrastructure strengths, Chainlink is cementing its role as a core DeFi player.
