Chainlink (LINK) whales are increasing their holdings as the second U.S. spot exchange-traded fund tied to the oracle network token began trading this week, pushing total ETF net assets toward $100 million even as the broader cryptocurrency market continues to decline.

What Happened: Second LINK ETF Launches

The Bitwise Chainlink ETF, trading under the ticker CLNK, debuted on NYSE Arca on Jan. 14 with a 0.34% management fee. The firm is waiving that fee for the first three months on up to $500 million in assets.

Opening-day data showed $2.59 million in net inflows, with net assets reaching $5.18 million and trading volume totaling $3.24 million.

The launch follows Grayscale's Chainlink Trust ETF debut in early December, which attracted $37.05 million in first-day inflows.

The combined products have pushed total LINK ETF net assets to $95.87 million.

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Why It Matters: Whale Accumulation Intensifies

On-chain data reveals significant whale activity alongside the institutional product launches. One wallet withdrew 139,950 LINK worth approximately $1.96 million from Binance, following an earlier withdrawal of 202,607 tokens valued at around $2.7 million.

"Now the whale holds 3,42,557 $LINK worth $4.81 million accumulated in the past 2 days," Onchain Lens reported.

Another whale wallet withdrew 207,328 LINK worth approximately $2.78 million on Jan. 12.

Whale wallet balances increased 1.37% over the past week while exchange-held LINK fell 1% during the same period — a pattern typically associated with long-term accumulation rather than short-term trading.

Despite the institutional and whale interest, LINK has dropped 1% over the past day amid broader market pressures and traded at $13.92 at the time of publication.

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