Ankr Network Staking

Currently, staking ANKR is only available on ERC-20. The staking rewards for ANKR are generated by:

Protocol Revenues: ANKR token holders share in the rewards earned by the node providers they support, including rewards earned from API & RPC services, staking SDKs, and more. Ankr anticipates the initial revenue breakdown is: 30% to the Ankr Treasury (controlled by Ankr DAO), 21% to the self-staked pool (node provider), and 49% to the staking pool (individual stakers), which is subject to approval via governance vote.

The APY for the version 1 of ANKR Staking may be variable as the initial ANKR staking pool will not be capped in size and is anticipated to be expanded. Hence, it’s important to keep in mind that the total annual rewards are divided among all active stakers. As the number of staked tokens increases, the reward rate decreases.

Furthermore, there are governance proposals that could adjust some of the on-chain parameters, which could also change the APR if they are approved. You’re welcome to use our Staking Calculator to get a better understanding of how these factors can impact your rewards.

Ankr’s consensus mechanism is the means by which the protocol can confirm that a user has fulfilled particular conditions and qualifies for particular services. As a part of this, the consensus mechanism ensures that a particular person has actually deposited a specific amount of ANKR in a specific smart contract. Upon confirming this, the consensus mechanism issues a JWT token (JSON Web Token) that enables the person to use PC services with premium features.

JWT tokens are used to securely transmit information between parties as a JSON object in a self-contained manner. For instance, when someone makes a deposit, the consensus mechanism’s endpoint provides data for the transaction being made, such as their credentials (an address, public key, and transaction hash). When doing so, it needs to verify that a deposit has been made and, therefore, requires a JWT token. The consensus mechanism will use the hash and other data provided to check the transaction and its status, ensure it hasn’t been reverted, and determine whether the transaction’s block has at least 12 more blocks on top of it (while also checking against a full set of other conditions). If the transaction meets all the conditions, then the consensus mechanism issues a JWT token.

It is essential for users to stake their PoS tokens with a dependable and highly performant validator, which is why we have rolled out our Verified Provider Program in June 2022. Through this program, we thoroughly scrutinise potential validators, evaluating factors such as security measures, their on-chain reliability, their provider setup, and value-added services for the whole ecosystem.

You can find more information about the providers that have been verified in  VPP Batch 1 and Batch 2. Validators that are part of the VPP will have a blue checkmark displayed next to their names on our website.

At present, you can only delegate your ANKR tokens to the default node provider, Ankr. However, Ankr is in the process of building the Independent Node Provider onboarding program and will bring it to the community soon. By then you can delegate your tokens to a node provider of your choosing and there will be numerous factors for you to take into account:

Commission Rates: When staking your tokens with a node provider, the commission rate represents the percentage of your rewards that the node provider will retain for themselves. A high commission rate can result in lower returns for you, while a low commission rate may lead to financial difficulties for the node provider in the future. It’s important to note that node providers may change their commission rates at any time.

Number of Users: A large number of delegators may signal a positive reputation for a node provider.

Node Provider’s Self-Staked balance: Node providers with significant amounts of self-staked tokens may have a greater motivation to maintain their operations, as they have more at risk than those with lower self-staked balances. However, it’s important to keep in mind that this metric has some limitations, as node providers can choose to delegate their own tokens to another node provider, which is done to enhance the security of their funds.

Voting power When selecting a node provider to delegate to, it’s generally advisable to avoid choosing one with the highest or lowest voting power. Delegating to the most popular node providers can increase the risk of centralization within the network as they will have more influence in governance and a greater share of blocks. On the other hand, choosing a node provider with low voting power may be less profitable and increases the risk of them ceasing their operations. Finding the balance and choosing a node provider with a moderate voting power could be the best approach to keep the balance in decentralization and profitability.

Performance: To ensure the best results, it’s important to select a validator with high uptime performance.

Value Add to the Ecosystem: Another way to assess the long-term vision of node provider is to check if they offer additional services to their delegators, such as tax reporting tools, explorers, etc. This can be a useful filter when comparing different providers.

We strive to make staking as safe and transparent as possible, however, it’s important to consider factors that may influence whether a particular staking option is appropriate for you.

• Slashing risk: Currently, when you stake with the Node Provider, Ankr, it does not involve any slashing or other penalties. However, future additional options with other Node Providers may involve some risks, depending on the provider.
• Unbonding risk: When staking ANKR tokens, there is a lockup period of 84-91 days after staking. Further, the undelegation period lasts one epoch, or one week, after you unstake. In fact, it takes 7-14 days to finish the unstaking process, depending on the day of the week you initiated the unstaking procedure. For example, if you unstake on Monday, the process will take 14 days, but if you unstake on Tuesday, it will take 13 days. This means that investors will not be able to sell their tokens immediately. This is something to keep in mind when deciding to stake, as crypto markets are highly volatile. Consider keeping funds liquid if you do not intend to hold ANKR long-term.
• Protocol security risks: There is an inherent risk that the protocol could contain unknown bugs, this risk applies not only to staking but also the investment in ANKR.

This list is not exhaustive and other risks may apply.

ANKR is the native token of the Ankr network and it is used to perform various important functions.

Token Utilities

• Staking: The Ankr Network depends on reliable, high-quality node providers to serve RPC requests on supported blockchains. Once Ankr launches its Independent Node Provider onboarding program, you can stake your tokens to full nodes (serving the development layer) instead of validator nodes (serving the consensus layer).
• Users can temporarily lock up ANKR to contribute to the security of the network by supporting node providers that operate on Ankr Network. In return for the service, both the node providers (Node Pros) and stakers (Ankr Bankrs) are compensated with staking rewards as incentives. ANKR staking will also enable delegators to allocate voting power to node providers to decide, among other things, which independent node providers will be admitted in the near term to service traffic on Ankr Network. 
• Gas token: Every transaction on the network, such as paying for accessing dApp and protocol deployment on the ANKR network, incurs a small fee that is paid to the validator in the form of ANKR.

Governance: ANKR is used to vote on governance proposals on the network. As a token holder, you can directly propose and vote for changes to the Ankr Staking system.

The supply of ANKR is capped at 10 billion. There was a 40% initial supply in February 2019, while the rest 60% of token supply is scheduled to be unlocked by August 2022 (see below for details). Approximately 2% of Ankr tokens have been burned. At this time, Ankr is unlikely to burn more as it does not fit in with the long term strategy.

Initial Token Distribution & Supply Schedule

• Premined Rewards & Airdrops: 40% (4 billion)
• Private pre-sale: 30% (3 billion) – up to 6 months vesting
• Team and advisors: 20% (2 billion) – 42-month vesting
• Public sale: 5% (500 million)
• Marketing: 5% (500 million)

After delegating your ANKR tokens, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• You can claim or restake your rewards after the locking period of 84–91 days. This period applies to each staking transaction independently. You can restake your rewards to increase you APY. But please note that staking your rewards without claiming them is considered a regular staking transaction and will have the usual locking period of 84-91 days.
• Your stake will keep generating rewards until you unstake, whether or not the locking period has ended. 
• Rewards accrue on the weekly basis, so you can claim rewards once a week.You must claim rewards via the Ankr Staking Dashboard.
• As a participant in the Ankr ecosystem, by staking or simply holding ANKR tokens you can participate in the Ankr DAO to make critical decisions affecting the Network’s future. While your contribution and vote are highly valuable to the ecosystem, it won’t affect your rewards directly. 

Anyone can earn ANKR rewards and become an “Ankr Bankr” by staking their tokens with the independent full nodes running on Ankr. 

For the best security and control over your funds, we recommend staking via Ledger once you’ve connected it to your Metamask Wallet. To delegate your tokens, you should ensure they are stored on your Metamask Wallet, and then follow these steps below:

Step 1: Go to the Ankr Staking Dashboard and connect to your Metamask Wallet by clicking on “Connect Wallet”.

Step 2: Click on “Go to Staking”, hover on the Ankr interface and you will see a “Stake” button, click on it.

Step 3: Now you can enter the amount of ANKR tokens you would like to stake, and choose a node provider (currently only Ankr is available).

Step 4: Finalize by clicking ‘Approve’ and confirming the access approval in MetaMask. After it’s been approved, click ‘Stake’ to send your delegated stake to the chosen node provider, and confirm the transaction in Metamask.