24% Altcoin Rally Shows a Striking Divergence: New Wallets Fail to Keep Up

Chainlink (LINK) has risen 24% since early September, while the daily average of new LINK addresses on the Ethereum mainnet has increased by less than 2%, lagging behind the price.

According to data shared by Santiment, LINK rose from $11.22 to $13.96 between the September 1 and October 6 closes. However, growth in new addresses did not keep pace with this price move.

Price rose, while growth in new addresses remained limited

In the four weeks ending October 6, the daily average of new LINK addresses was 1,249. That figure stood at 1,225 in the previous comparison window, which ended on September 1. The increase between the two four-week periods was therefore less than 2%.

The gap between the price rise and limited growth in new addresses raises the question of how much interest in LINK has translated into new wallet creation on the Ethereum mainnet. Santiment also notes that, despite the news flow surrounding LINK, new wallets have not shown similar momentum.

A different picture on Solana, while Ethereum addresses remain flat

Across the same comparison windows, new addresses on Solana rose 33% while its price gained about 20%. On Ethereum, the number of new addresses remained flat even as ETH gained about 11%.

The scope of the LINK measurement matters here: The data includes only LINK addresses on the Ethereum mainnet. LINK bridged via CCIP or held through ETFs is not included in this metric. Therefore, the data reflects new address creation on the network being measured, rather than all investor demand for LINK.