Standard Chartered Initiates Chainlink Coverage With $200 Price Target for 2030

Standard Chartered has initiated coverage on the Chainlink (LINK) token with a price forecast of $200 by the end of 2030, a potential increase of more than 2,000% from its current price of roughly $8. The bank's projection is based on Chainlink's foundational role in the growing tokenization of both decentralized (DeFi) and traditional financial (TradFi) assets.

The Tokenization Thesis

In a research note, Geoff Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets research, highlighted Chainlink's position as "the market leader in bringing data on-chain via decentralised ’oracles’." The bank's forecast hinges on the explosive growth expected in tokenized assets, which it projects will rise from approximately $340 billion today to $4 trillion by the end of 2028.

Chainlink provides secure on-chain data connections for about 70% of the global DeFi market, according to the note. Kendrick stated that Chainlink is "the only end-to-end platform capable of supporting the full lifecycle of tokenised assets" across both finance sectors. The analysis also anticipates assets active in DeFi will grow 37-fold to $2.7 trillion by 2030.

Institutional Adoption and Revenue Growth

Standard Chartered pointed to significant existing adoption by major financial institutions as a key driver. Companies already using Chainlink's services include:

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• Swift
• U.S. Depository Trust & Clearance Corporation (DTCC)
• Euroclear
• JPMorgan
• Mastercard
• UBS
• Fidelity
• S&P Global

The bank expects Chainlink’s fee revenue to grow roughly 25-fold by 2030, driven by a 20-fold increase in oracle fees from off-chain TradFi customers and a 37-fold increase from DeFi asset growth. Kendrick's model assumes a linear relationship between this fee growth and the token's price, suggesting LINK could outpace the price gains of both Bitcoin and Ethereum over the forecast period.

Price Path and Key Risks

Standard Chartered's year-by-year forecast projects LINK reaching $13 by the end of 2026, $41 by 2027, $82 by 2028, and $133 by 2029, before hitting the $200 target in 2030.

However, the bank also flagged several key risks to its outlook. These potential headwinds include a slower-than-expected pace of institutional tokenization, rising competition from more specialized service providers, and the possibility of technical setbacks within the Chainlink network.