Kategorie: Crypto News

• Saudi Awwal Bank taps Chainlink to build regulated on-chain finance apps.
• LINK exchange reserves have fallen to multi-year lows, signalling accumulation.
• LINK’s price has held the $23 support but faces strong resistance near the $25 level.

Chainlink’s LINK token is holding firm near $23 as its partnerships expand and exchange balances fall to multi-year lows.

The combination of institutional adoption, a push into artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, and tightening token supply has set the stage for a potential breakout, though traders remain cautious at critical resistance levels.

Saudi Awwal Bank partners with Chainlink for blockchain finance

Saudi Awwal Bank, one of the largest banks in the Kingdom with more than $100 billion in assets, has signed an agreement with Chainlink to begin building regulated on-chain finance applications.

Developers at the bank will use Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) and Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE) to create tokenised applications that can connect Saudi markets to global blockchain networks.

Saudi Awwal Bank (@alawwalsab), one of Saudi Arabia’s largest banks with over $100 billion in total assets, is leveraging several Chainlink services to facilitate the deployment of next-generation onchain applications in Saudi Arabia.

Under the innovation agreement, SAB is… https://t.co/DAvUawI3Yg pic.twitter.com/Zhlm1GJdGp

— Chainlink (@chainlink) September 16, 2025

The agreement aligns with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030, which aims to diversify the economy beyond oil revenues.

By partnering with Chainlink, the bank is opening a path for tokenised capital markets, an industry valued at more than $2.3 trillion in Saudi Arabia.

This move could accelerate the adoption of regulated blockchain infrastructure in the region, placing Chainlink at the heart of institutional finance in the Middle East.

Chainlink’s institutional push meets AI expansion

The Saudi deal comes on the heels of another strategic move.

On September 16, Chainlink announced it had joined AethirCloud’s AI Unbundled Alliance, a program designed to advance Web3 artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Through this initiative, Chainlink will provide its CRE platform to developers working on AI-powered decentralised applications while also funding hackathon bounties and targeted grants.

By joining the alliance, Chainlink has extended its role from powering decentralised finance (DeFi) to enabling verifiable AI workflows across both blockchain and traditional systems.

This broadens Chainlink’s appeal and positions LINK as a critical piece of infrastructure in the next phase of Web3 adoption.

Shrinking LINK reserves point to accumulation

While adoption headlines are encouraging, on-chain data may be giving an even clearer signal.

The number of LINK tokens held on centralised exchanges has dropped from nearly 200 million in 2023 to about 158.1 million in September 2025.

$LINK on exchanges hit a multi-year low while the biggest institutions on the planet are adopting Chainlink pic.twitter.com/0g78TjNZDu

— Quinten | 048.eth (@QuintenFrancois) September 16, 2025

The steady decline reflects accumulation by long-term holders and reduces the amount of supply available for immediate sale.

In previous cycles, sharp drops in exchange reserves have often preceded major rallies.

This trend, combined with growing institutional partnerships, has strengthened the bullish case for LINK despite recent market hesitation.

Notably, the shrinking reserves are a sign of tightening liquidity that could fuel a price breakout if demand rises.

Chainlink price outlook points to a potential breakout

The current mix of supply-side tightening, expanding institutional use cases, and Chainlink’s entry into AI infrastructure has created a constructive backdrop for LINK.

While short-term sentiment shows caution, the long-term setup is tilted toward growth as demand converges with reduced token availability.

At press time, LINK traded at $23.28 with a market capitalisation of $15.79 billion, according to Coingecko.

The token has traded between $23.18 and $23.73 in the past 24 hours and remains up more than 119% over the past year.

However, it is still trading 55% below its all-time high of $52.70 set in May 2021.

Technical indicators suggest a period of consolidation, with LINK holding support above $23.

However, bulls face heavy resistance at $25. A decisive close above that level could open the way to $26.1 and beyond.

If adoption in Saudi Arabia accelerates and the AI alliance delivers traction, traders believe Chainlink could overcome resistance and aim for higher targets, with some analysts pointing to $52 as a possible milestone by year-end.

On the downside, a break below $23 risks a retreat toward $20 or even $19.53, which analysts view as a key support zone.

The post Chainlink price outlook: Saudi Awwal Bank partnership and shrinking reserves signal bullish breakout appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Shibarium exploit drained $2.4M, shaking Shiba Inu investor confidence.
• Shiba Inu (SHIB) recently tested its 200-day SMA support after a 13% two-day drop.
• Buyers are dominating Shiba Inu futures, hinting at a possible breakout above $0.000017.

Shiba Inu has found itself at the centre of market attention after a sudden downturn triggered by a major exploit on its Shibarium network.

The exploit has shaken investor confidence, pushed the memecoin prices lower, and left the community questioning the security of one of the most prominent meme coin ecosystems.

At the same time, traders are closely watching technical indicators that suggest a potential breakout could be on the horizon if key levels hold.

The Shibarium hack: what happened?

The Shibarium hack, which drained an estimated $2.4 million from the Shibarium bridge, was orchestrated through a carefully executed flash loan attack.

By borrowing millions in Bone ShibaSwap tokens, the attacker gained majority control over validator keys and signed off on a malicious state, siphoning funds from the network.

UPDATE 13/09/25

What we know so far about the recent incident 👇

How the exploit was executed:

• The attacker used funds from the bridge hack in the same block as the attack to acquire 4.6M BONE to temporarily gain validator voting power, attempting to do it in one… https://t.co/4Ft1VMxeBv

— Shib (@Shibtoken) September 13, 2025

Tikkala Research, a blockchain security firm, later confirmed that the exploit extended further, with compromised signer keys linked to ShibaSwap pushing the total loss closer to $2.8 million.

It seems like multiple signer keys appear to have leaked in Shibaswap, causing a $2.8M loss today @Shibtoken. The attacker (https://t.co/B9pqiGqIvy) withdrew multiple times by providing legit Merkle leaf exit requests from a root signed by 10 different addresses. The „legit“…

— Tikkala Security (@TikkalaResearch) September 12, 2025

However, developers have moved quickly to mitigate further losses, freezing staking and unstaking functions while shifting funds into a multisignature hardware wallet.

Security experts from PeckShield, Hexens, and Seal911 have joined the investigation, while the Shiba Inu team has also reached out directly to the attacker with an unusual on-chain bounty offer.

The bounty offers five Ether in exchange for returning the stolen assets, a proposal that remains active for thirty days but begins to shrink after the first week.

Shiba Inu’s lead ambassador Shytoshi Kusama has also broken weeks of silence to assure the community that he remains deeply involved.

Dismissing rumours of his absence as “preposterous,” Kusama confirmed he is working alongside lead developer Kaal Dhairya and others in what he described as a “war room.”

Kusama admitted the situation is complex and called for patience as the team works through the next steps with law enforcement and security specialists.

Market response

The fallout was immediate. Shiba Inu fell by more than 13% within 48 hours, dropping from a September high of $0.00001484 to an intraday low of $0.00001297.

The slide tested the token’s 200-day simple moving average, a critical support zone that traders are now watching closely.

Other tokens tied to the ecosystem were not spared either. Bone lost more than one-third of its value in just a few days, while K9 Finance’s KNINE token shed around 10%.

Shiba Inu price outlook

Despite the hack and the uncertainty that followed, Shiba Inu’s market sentiment has not collapsed entirely.

Shiba Inu derivatives data from Coinglass shows that buyers continue to dominate, signalling resilience even as spot prices hover near support.

Notably, the Shiba Inu price has been tightening within a symmetrical triangle pattern, with consolidation around $0.00001316.

A decisive breakout above $0.000017 could open the door for a move toward $0.00005, although that path will depend on whether confidence in the network can be restored.

The post Shiba Inu price prediction after the Shibarium Hack: critical support tested appeared first on CoinJournal.

Key takeaways

• Binance’s BNB has set a new all-time high price of $962.
• The coin could hit the $1k mark for the first time in history as market conditions remain bullish.

BNB sets a new all-time high of $962

BNB, the native coin of the Binance ecosystem, has been one of the best performers in recent weeks. The coin is up by more than 2% in the last 24 hours and has hit a new all-time high of $962.

At press time, BNB is trading at $952 as it slightly retraces from the all-time high price. However, it could rally higher towards the $1k psychological mark in the coming hours or days. Hitting the $1k mark could push BNB’s market cap towards $140 billion as it remains the 5th-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. 

With the Fed rate decision expected to be positive later today, BNB could record higher gains in the near term. BNB’s strong performance is supported by Binance’s position as the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. The crypto exchange processes over $20 billion in daily trading volume, which is nearly 5x that of the second-place Bybit.

BNB eyes $1k as market conditions remain bullish

The BNB/USD 4-hour chart is bullish but inefficient, suggesting that price could sweep liquidity to the downside before rallying higher. The bullish trend comes as BNB rallied to a new all-time high a few hours ago.

The RSI of 67 shows that BNB is within the positive region but is still not overbought, suggesting further room for growth. The MACD lines are also within the positive territory, indicating that buyers are currently in control of the market.

If the bullish trend continues, BNB could surge to a new all-time high of $1k over the next few hours or days. An extended bullish run could see it attempt to hit the $1,100 mark for the first time in its history.

However, if BNB undergoes a correction following its recent rally, it could drop to the nearest TLQ and support level at $911. Failure to defend this support level could see BNB drop to the $870 region.

The post BNB targets $1k after setting a new ATH; Check forecast appeared first on CoinJournal.