Chainlink: The most underrated infrastructure in the crypto ecosystem according to Bitwise

The cryptocurrency industry may be significantly underestimating the value of one of its most fundamental pieces. According to Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise, Chainlink represents one of the most undervalued assets, even though it is also one of the most critical for the operation of modern blockchains. Despite ranking eleventh among the largest crypto assets with a market cap of $8.20 billion and an current price of $11.58, the oracle network remains widely overlooked in mainstream sector conversations.

Why does Chainlink remain undervalued despite its crucial relevance?

The disconnect between Chainlink’s actual importance and its market positioning is not due to weak fundamentals but mainly to the complexity of its value proposition. “I believe it is one of the least understood and possibly most undervalued crypto assets,” Hougan wrote in his analysis. Most tend to reduce Chainlink to a simple price data provider, a description that, while not incorrect, is deeply incomplete.

The core problem is that most investors do not fully understand what Chainlink is or why it is indispensable. The network has operated as decentralized middleware since 2017, when it was founded by Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis, enabling smart contracts to securely access real-world information. However, its current scope is much broader than this basic definition suggests.

The true role of Chainlink: much more than an oracle

Hougan argues that describing Chainlink solely as a data oracle is akin to defining Amazon as a bookstore. The reality is that Chainlink provides the connective layer that allows blockchains—systems inherently isolated—to interact with markets, institutions, and each other. Without this connectivity, blockchain networks would be like powerful offline spreadsheets: capable of complex calculations but unable to access the information needed to operate in real financial systems.

This fundamental role becomes even more evident when viewed from the perspective of institutional adoption. Stablecoins rely on Chainlink to manage price feeds and proof of reserves. Tokenized securities and bonds use it for valuation processes, regulatory compliance, and position settlement. Decentralized finance platforms, prediction markets, and on-chain derivatives cannot operate without access to verifiable external data. In each of these cases, Chainlink functions as indispensable infrastructure.

Chainlink’s quiet institutional dominance

What’s most notable is that Chainlink has already been systematically adopted by some of the world’s most important financial institutions, although this fact remains virtually invisible to most investors. Organizations like SWIFT, DTCC, JPMorgan, Visa, Mastercard, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Euroclear, and Deutsche Börse already use or have integrated Chainlink into their operations.

This silent adoption demonstrates that traditional financial institutions have clearly recognized the importance of Chainlink for the future of tokenization and digital finance. According to Hougan, “for optimistic investors regarding stablecoins, tokenization, decentralized finance, or real cryptocurrency adoption, Chainlink is at the center of it all.” The gap between this institutional reality and the public market perception underscores how undervalued the asset remains.

The opportunity the market continues to overlook

As asset tokenization accelerates and institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies grows, Chainlink is positioned to capture value disproportionately to its current valuation. Bitwise has already recognized this discrepancy, recently launching a publicly traded product based on Chainlink to facilitate institutional access.

The investment thesis is clear: Chainlink is already integrated into the financial infrastructure that institutional investors are building. It is not a speculative bet on the future but on a present reality that is not yet fully reflected in the token’s price. As long as the market continues to focus on short-term narratives, it will likely keep overlooking one of the most undervalued and fundamental pieces of the ecosystem infrastructure.