Ankr

Ankr's ankrETH is a reward-bearing liquid staking token for Ethereum, part of Ankr's broader multi-chain staking and RPC node infrastructure.

Liquid staking across many chains backed by Ankr's global node infrastructure business.

- Multi-Chain Liquid Staking: Ankr's non-custodial liquid staking product lets users stake assets across multiple chains and receive reward-bearing liquid staking tokens (ankrETH for ETH, ankrBNB for BNB, plus FTM, AVAX, POL and FLOW variants). The value of one liquid token grows against the underlying asset over time as staking rewards accrue; token quantity stays fixed. Ankr charges a technical service fee on staking rewards. - ankrETH: Ankr's Ethereum liquid staking token. A reward-bearing (value-accruing, non-rebasing) token: the fair value of 1 ankrETH versus ETH increases over time as staking rewards accumulate inside the token, while the holder's balance count stays the same. ankrETH can be bridged to other chains and used across DeFi for additional yield layers. It superseded the earlier aETHb token. - RPC / Node Infrastructure & Web3 API: Ankr's core infrastructure business: a decentralized network of node providers delivering RPC (Remote Procedure Call) endpoints and Web3 APIs across a large set of blockchains, so developers can read/write chain data without running their own full nodes. Also includes Advanced APIs, App Chains-as-a-Service, and gaming SDKs. - ANKR Token: The native ERC-20 utility/governance token of the Ankr network, used across its infrastructure and staking ecosystem. Distinct from the liquid staking tokens (ankrETH, ankrBNB) which represent staked positions.

- Smart Contract: Ankr's staking tokens are governed by upgradeable smart contracts. The December 2022 aBNBc incident demonstrated concrete smart-contract risk: an unlimited/infinite-mint bug in the BNB liquid staking token contract allowed an attacker to mint an enormous supply and drain ~$5M from liquidity pools. - Counterparty: Ankr operates as a company with privileged deployer/admin keys over its contracts. The 2022 exploit root cause was a former team member compromising a deployer private key via a social-engineering / supply-chain attack, showing reliance on Ankr's internal operational and key-management controls. - Reserve / Depeg: Liquid staking tokens (ankrETH, ankrBNB) trade at market prices that can diverge from the underlying asset's redemption value. Secondary-market liquidity crunches or loss-of-confidence events (as during the aBNBc exploit, when the token fell over 99%) can cause severe depegs. - Governance: Contract upgradeability and admin controls concentrate power over parameters, fees and token issuance. Post-exploit Ankr added multisig and timelocks, but users remain exposed to how these privileged controls are managed. - Network: As a multi-chain protocol and RPC/node infrastructure operator, Ankr is exposed to the security, liveness and validator/slashing conditions of every chain it stakes on and services, so faults or outages on an underlying chain propagate to its staking tokens and API business.

- Cloud infrastructure / API provider (e.g., AWS-style managed services): similar — Ankr's RPC and Web3 API business plays a role analogous to a managed cloud/API provider: developers pay for reliable access to blockchain read/write endpoints instead of provisioning and maintaining their own node servers.; differs — Ankr's node layer is decentralized across independent providers rather than centrally owned data centers, and it settles/relays blockchain state rather than hosting arbitrary applications. - Interest-bearing deposit / money-market fund receipt: similar — Holding ankrETH is loosely comparable to holding an interest-bearing receipt: the position accrues yield (staking rewards) and represents a claim on the underlying deposited asset.; differs — There is no bank or insured deposit; yield comes from Ethereum protocol staking rewards, the receipt is a freely transferable on-chain token usable in DeFi, and it carries smart-contract, slashing and depeg risks with no deposit insurance.