In a major development for blockchain data oracle projects, Chainlink ( LINK ) has witnessed significant response to its enhanced cryptocurrency staking program, amassing over $632 million worth of LINK tokens in a remarkably short period of time.​

A recent press release from the company highlighted “overwhelming demand” during the early access period, which filled the staking limit in just six hours.

Chainlink, recognized as the industry-standard decentralized computing platform, has launched Chainlink Stake v0.2, the latest upgrade to the protocol’s native staking mechanism.​

The early access phase has begun, with eligible participants invited to stake up to 15,000 LINK tokens. This phase will last four days before transitioning to a general access phase where investors will be able to stake up to 15,000 LINK tokens as long as the staking pool remains unfilled.​

According to the announcement, the upgrade will increase the pool size to 45,000,000 LINK tokens, equivalent to 8% of the current circulating supply. The expansion is intended to enhance the accessibility of Chainlink Staking and enable LINK token holders to participate in a more diverse audience.

Staking is an integral part of Chainlink Economics 2.0, which brings an additional layer of cryptoeconomic security to the Chainlink network. Specifically, Chainlink Stake enables ecosystem participants (including node operators and community members) to support the performance of Oracle services by staking LINK tokens and receiving rewards for contributing to network security.

v0.1 was the initial phase of the Stake program, and v0.2 has been reorganized into the fully modular, scalable, and upgradeable Stake platform. Building on lessons learned from previous releases, the v0.2 beta release focuses on several key goals.​

Chainlink is rolling out several new features to enhance its staking program. These include a new unbonding mechanism to provide greater flexibility to the community and node operator stakers.

In addition, by cutting the stake of node operators, the security guarantee of Oracle services is strengthened. A modular architecture is adopted to support future improvements and additions, and a dynamic reward mechanism is introduced to seamlessly adapt to new external reward sources in the future, such as user fees.

After the early access phase ends on December 11, 2023, the v0.2 staking pool will transition to the general access phase. During this phase, anyone will have the opportunity to stake up to 15,000 LINK tokens.

Following Chainlink’s successful upgrade, the decentralized computing platform’s native token LINK surged 12% to as high as $17.305.

Such price levels have not been seen since April 2022, which marked a new yearly high for the cryptocurrency. However, LINK has pulled back slightly and is currently trading at $16.774.

Cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez highlighted a key support area for Chainlink. Martinez noted that more than 17,000 addresses purchased 47 million LINK tokens at prices ranging from $14.40 to $14.80.​

The accumulation of many addresses indicates a strong buying interest in this price range, which may serve as a support level for the coin.

While the support area could hold and trigger a LINK price rebound, Martinez warned investors to remain vigilant. Any signs of weakness, such as a breakout of support areas or negative market sentiment, could prompt investors to sell their LINK holdings to avoid losses.

It remains to be seen whether LINK can maintain its position above these key levels, and whether the broader cryptocurrency market will enter an accumulation phase or experience a pullback after the sharp gains seen in recent weeks.

Such a retracement could affect the price of LINK and lead to a test of the overhead support levels. On the other hand, the coin faces immediate resistance at $17.483, $18.069, and $18.910. These are the last hurdles that LINK needs to overcome before it can reach the $20 milestone.