Ankr Staked ETH

Ankr Staked ETH (ankrETH) is a cryptocurrency launched in 2020. It belongs to the liquid staking token category, connecting Ethereum’s proof-of-stake consensus to decentralized finance.

The token’s primary function is to unlock liquidity that normally remains frozen when users stake Ether directly on the Beacon Chain. By issuing a transferable receipt, Ankr eliminates the opportunity cost of locked capital. Holders can immediately redeploy ankrETH into lending markets, liquidity pools, or cross-chain strategies without waiting for network withdrawal queues. The approach targets the deep structural inefficiency that has historically separated staking yield from active portfolio management across DeFi.

ankrETH operates on the Ethereum network. Its core smart contracts on Ethereum handle minting, burning, and value accrual logic. Bridged iterations then propagate the token onto Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon zkEVM, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and other ecosystems, creating a multi-chain surface for staking exposure.

Technically, the asset conforms to the ERC-20 token standard on Ethereum, ensuring broad wallet and protocol compatibility. Across its bridged incarnations, it inherits the security assumptions of the respective host chain while preserving a synchronized exchange rate through Ankr’s oracle infrastructure. The contracts have been deployed and verified on multiple Ethereum Virtual Machine networks—including Mode, Blast, Linea, Fantom, and Scroll—underscoring a design that prioritizes interoperability over monolithic settlement.

Ankr, the infrastructure company headquartered in the United States, introduced ankrETH in December 2020. The launch came early in the liquid staking derivative wave, well before Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake finalized. Initially confined to Ethereum mainnet, the token’s footprint expanded incrementally as Ankr forged integrations with a growing roster of Layer-2 networks. That multi-chain rollout tracked the general fragmentation of Ethereum’s activity across rollups and sidechains.

The project’s long-term objective is to collapse the barrier between Ethereum staking participation and capital fluidity. By aggregating staked ETH from numerous small holders and distributing it across a curated set of validators, Ankr intends to achieve optimal network decentralization while offering a plug-and-play yield instrument. The ambition is a financial primitive where staking rewards compound silently inside the token, never requiring active claim mechanics.

Mechanically, ankrETH is minted upon deposit of Ether into the protocol’s staking pool and burned when tokens are redeemed against the underlying staked ETH. Its value relative to ETH rises continuously, capturing staked rewards as an internalized price rebase rather than a discrete payout. This accrual model embeds the yield directly into the token’s market rate, which Ankr maintains through a system of oracles and reserve liquidity. The elastic supply expands and contracts in lockstep with net staking flows.

Ankr’s node operators take the pooled ETH, run validator clients, and remit attestation and block proposal income back to the contract. From the holder’s side, ankrETH can be supplied to automated market makers as single-sided liquidity to earn swap fees atop the base staking APR. Lending protocols accept it as collateral, enabling levered staking strategies, while yield aggregators auto-harvest the rewards across multiple chains. Each action compounds the intrinsic accrual without the holder forfeiting exposure to Ethereum’s consensus yield.

Ankr Staked ETH has a maximum supply that is not fixed, with a total supply of 7,224.34 tokens. Currently, 7,224.34 tokens are in circulation. The supply expands or contracts elastically as stakers mint new ankrETH or withdraw their original Ether, maintaining a tight correlation to the volume of assets under staking. With a market capitalization of $21,080,923, Ankr Staked ETH ranks #8,386 among all cryptocurrencies.