Investors interested in decentralized finance (DeFi) often focus on the blockchains that power it, such as Ethereum, Solana, and Hyperliquid. But there’s another blockchain network that arguably plays an even more important role.

Chainlink (LINK 0.15%) is a blockchain oracle network that provides real-world data to blockchains. The smart contracts and applications built on blockchains like Ethereum can’t access this data on their own. They need an oracle — and Chainlink is by far the most successful. Let’s see if that makes it worth buying.

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Chainlink was the first major blockchain oracle, and it leveraged its first-mover advantage to capture a sizable…