Ankr (ANKR): how it works, supply and reviews
In short
- Type
- Infrastructure provider (RPC, APIs, appchains, staking), not its own blockchain
- Maximum supply
- 10 billion ANKR
- Risks and caveats
- The December 2022 exploit was possible partly because one developer key was a single point of failure, as Ankr itself said.
- Checked
- 31 October 2026
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Key facts
- Ticker
- ANKR
- Official site
- ankr.com
Key facts checked on 31 October 2026 against official sources.
What is Ankr
Ankr is a Web3 infrastructure provider. It sells multichain RPC endpoints and APIs, launches rollups and sidechains for clients, and runs liquid staking products. ANKR is its ERC-20 token, used for governance votes and delegated staking.
Network and consensus
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Infrastructure provider (RPC, APIs, appchains, staking), not its own blockchain |
| RPC coverage | 80+ chains over JSON-RPC and WebSockets, public and Premium tiers |
| Runs on | ANKR is a token on Ethereum (contract 0x8290333cef9e6d528dd5618fb97a76f268f3edd4) |
| Liquid staking | Liquid staking tokens such as ankrETH, ankrBNB and ankrFLOW across several chains |
Supply and issuance
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Maximum supply | 10 billion ANKR |
| Inflation | No inflation is built into the token |
| Initial distribution | 40% initial supply; 60% unlocked over 36 months, August 2019 to August 2022 |
| Fee burn | About 2% of ANKR has been burned; Ankr says more burns are unlikely |
What ANKR is used for
- Governance: holders vote on proposals for Ankr Staking at 1 ANKR per vote; a proposer must lock 5,000,000 ANKR.
- Delegated staking: holders stake ANKR to independent full nodes and earn ANKR rewards.
Who develops and governs Ankr
- Company
- Ankr Inc. (party to the terms of use)
- Governance
- Token-holder proposals and votes; accepted proposals are implemented by the Ankr team
- Founders
- Chandler Song, co-founder and CEO (as of December 2022)
History
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 21 February 2019 | Ankr's token distribution smart contract dates from 21 February 2019. |
| August 2019 | The 36-month unlock of 60% of the ANKR supply began (to August 2022). |
| 1 December 2022 | An attacker used Ankr's compromised developer key to mint aBNBc; Ankr later discontinued aBNBc and aBNBb and airdropped ankrBNB. |
| 20 December 2022 | Ankr published an after-action report and moved to multi-sig authentication and timelocks for contract updates. |
Security and audits
- Ankr lists external audits of its staking products by Beosin, PeckShield, Veridise, Salus and Halborn (2020-2024).
- After the December 2022 exploit, Ankr said it would require multi-sig authentication and timelocks for all contract updates and stricter background checks.
Security incidents
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 December 2022 | Key compromise: Attackers obtained the developer private key and altered the aBNBc liquid staking token contract, minting tokens without authorisation and swapping them on DEXes; Ankr estimated the damage at $5 million worth of BNB. Ankr said a former team member planted a malicious code package. Funds returned: Ankr said it would buy $5 million worth of BNB to compensate affected liquidity providers and airdrop new ankrBNB to affected aBNBc and aBNBb holders. | ankr.com |
Further incidents are reported by third parties (press, incident databases) but are not confirmed in the company’s own channels, so they are not listed here.
Official ANKR contracts
| Network | Contract address |
|---|---|
| Ethereum | 0x8290333cef9e6d528dd5618fb97a76f268f3edd4 |
Address as linked from Ankr's tokenomics page (burn address link).
Risks and caveats
- The December 2022 exploit was possible partly because one developer key was a single point of failure, as Ankr itself said.
- Ankr's terms say it is not responsible for third-party services, including bridge or smart contract failures.
- Ankr reserves the right to change its token unlock plans at any time.
Official links
- Website: www.ankr.com
- Docs: www.ankr.com/docs
- Source code: github.com/Ankr-network
- Governance forum: www.ankr.com/docs/staking-extra/ankr-governance-mechanics
Questions and answers
What is Ankr?
Ankr is a Web3 infrastructure provider offering multichain RPC endpoints and APIs, appchains and liquid staking. ANKR is its ERC-20 token.
What is the total supply of ANKR?
10 billion ANKR, with no inflation built in; about 2% has been burned.
What is the ANKR token used for?
Voting on Ankr Staking proposals (1 ANKR per vote) and delegated staking to full nodes.
Was Ankr hacked?
Yes. On 1 December 2022 attackers used Ankr's compromised developer key to mint aBNBc; Ankr estimated the damage at $5 million worth of BNB and compensated affected users.
Sources
- Ankr - Home
- Ankr - Docs
- Ankr - ANKR Tokenomics
- Ankr - ANKR Governance Mechanics
- Ankr - Audit reports
- Ankr - Delegated ANKR token staking
- Ankr - Flow Liquid Staking
- Ankr - Terms of Use
- Ankr - The aBNBc Token Report (2 December 2022)
- Ankr - After Action Report (20 December 2022)
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