They are doing it again.
This time Chainlink. The very network that promised to connect our miserable 'off-chain' world with the high-spirited blockchain reality. A bridge between reality and crypto promises.
And now they are buying back their own tokens.
Correct, Chainlink decided to launch the 'Chainlink Reserve' - a strategic reserve where LINK will be bought back with protocol income. It seems genius. They have finally found a way to support the token price without resorting to the old good hope for a bull market's mercy.
'Why not just create money out of thin air and buy ourselves back?' someone asked in the board.
'Genius!' replied Sergey Nazarov, possibly joking. Or maybe not.
This is how 'Payment Abstraction' works... or magic?
Look how beautifully it is arranged. The user wants to pay Chainlink for data, for oracles, for cross-chain transfer. He can do it in ETH, USDC, or even in dumplings, well, if they are tokenized, of course.
And then... alchemy happens. The protocol automatically converts everything into LINK, and these tokens are sent not just anywhere, but to a strategic reserve. On Uniswap, by the way. It’s as if lunch is being sent to the DAO kitchen.
So: Chainlink earns → buys itself → puts it in the chest → does not spend. All above board. Almost.
What does this mean?
On one hand, it's brilliant. They are creating demand for the token, taking it off the market, and not putting it into circulation. It’s like if your favorite burger restaurant bought all the burgers and put them in the refrigerator: the price rises, scarcity, excitement, customers in a panic.
On the other hand? Isn’t this what central banks do with gold? Or worse, with bonds? Who's next? Chainlink, issuing its own stablecoin backed by LINK? Oh, wait... it’s already being discussed. Who actually cares?
Investors are pleased. The move is smart. The market says 'well done.'
Speculators - are excited. It’s almost like a buyback on Nasdaq.
Users - have not noticed yet.
SEC - has not woken up yet.
And there are more and more questions.
What if the reserve becomes so large that it starts to influence voting within the network?
What if it gets hacked? Or 'unfrozen' in a moment of despair?
What if tomorrow Nazarov says: 'Now we spend the reserve on developing the metaverse in Tatarstan.' Who will stop him?
Or is this a step towards Web3 hegemony?
Chainlink is now earning income from protocols, converting it into tokens, strengthening the market, all without the voice of investors. Is this a Web3 monarchy? Or a technocratic dream of a self-financing system, where everything relies on the honesty of a few smart contracts and Nazarov's messengers?
Anyway, Chainlink has already accumulated over $1 million in LINK, and it doesn’t intend to spend it. And this, by the way, is just the beginning.
You can laugh. You can scoff skeptically. But Chainlink is doing now what no central bank in the world can do, it earns income in one currency and converts it into its own.
This is either the beginning of something great or a great advertising campaign before a dump.
