The Ankr token (ANKR) is the native cryptocurrency of the Ankr network, a Web 3 infrastructure platform that allows users to create and manage their own nodes, which they can use for different proof-of-stake blockchains. For developers, Ankr Network provides application programming interfaces (APIs) to make connecting and communicating with DeFi (decentralized finance) platforms easy.

Ankr tokens (ANKR) serve as the main utility token on the Ankr network. Ankr is used to reward participation on the network and as a fee for using another computer’s resources and a means of blockchain verification through staking.

ANKR started as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network in September 2018, with a maximum supply of 10 billion ANKR. During its monthlong initial coin offering, the project raised $14.5 million by distributing 1 ANKR for $0.0055, or 5% of the total token supply. Prior to the token’s public launch, 30% of the ANKR supply was distributed in a private presale, 20% to the Ankr team and advisers and 5%. Forty percent of the token supply was left available for mining rewards, and the remaining 5% is held for marketing.

Ankr’s hit its all-time low of $0.0007111 during a broader market sell-off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost a year later, however, ANKR hit its all-time high of $0.2252 after it was listed on the Coinbase crypto exchange and recognized as the top validator on Binance Smart Chain. Ankr also became featured on the HitBTC exchange in the same month, providing potential buyers with more ways to access the token. The “Coinbase effect” on ANKR was short-lived, and the cryptocurrency fell over 50% during the following month.

Ankr is an open-source, blockchain-based cloud computing platform that uses idle computer resources and redirects them toward crypto-based ventures like bitcoin mining or decentralized applications (dapps). The computer resources that power the Ankr network come from providers who offer their idle computing resources to create the Ankr cloud in return for ANKR. Typically, providers are larger entities that have under-utilized data centers and that are looking to monetize their spare power. Consumers can pay providers and use the Ankr cloud using ANKR or can stake the token to receive a continual return on investment.

Staking is made possible through Ankr’s modified proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm called proof of useful work (PoUW). Unlike bitcoin’s PoW algorithm that requires miners to generate increasingly difficult hashes to discover new blocks, Ankr’s PoUW uses computing power to execute useful computations for the network. Miners receive this “useful work” from useful work providers. Useful work providers send computations they need to be solved, which are then attached to the block of transactions the miner is verifying. Because the computations sent by the provider could be anything, this enables Ankr to work with almost all on-chain computation while simultaneously reducing the energy costs of traditional PoW.

Ankr is a multi-chain provider, meaning that it is blockchain agnostic. By its design outlined in the project’s white paper, Ankr offers a single platform that can interact with multiple blockchains without favoring any particular blockchain. This interoperable network makes it possible for cross-chain Web 3 development using the Ankr network. Ankr’s API service enables direct access to proof-of-stake networks within the Ankr network ecosystem, letting developers scale their dapps and gain access to more than 50 different DeFi protocols and blockchains.

Ankr Network was co-founded by Chandler Song and Ryan Fang in 2017 at the University of California, Berkeley. Before the project’s public token sale, Ankr held a private token sale, raising $15 million from the BlockVC, Link Capital, NGC Ventures, Pantera Capital and others. Following the public token sale, Ankr went live in 2019.

The Ankr network has been used by a variety of projects, including Acala, Arweave, Binance, Celo and Polygon. In its partnership with Celo, Ankr developed a public toolbox to let users create mobile-based dapps on Celo using the Ankr protocol. While many of the partnerships have been related to expanding its services, Ankr has also signed marketing and brand deals, including a multiyear partnership with the National Basketball Association’s Sacramento Kings in October 2021.

In December 2020, Ankr announced the launch of its Ankr staking product “Stkr,” which lets users stake Eth2 through its synthetic aETHc token in exchange for rewards. By offering the aETHc token, Ankr enabled users to hold and trade ETH rewards ahead of the launch of Ethereum 2.0. The aETHc token rewards soon led to decentralized exchange offerings of aETHc and new partnerships with Curve Finance, SushiSwap and Yearn Finance. Within the first month of Stkr, Akr rebranded the product to Ankr Staking in order to provide a clearer connection between Ankr and the staking protocol.

In addition to staking service, Ankr additionally moved to offer Web 3 development products at the end of 2020. Building on the suite of decentralized products offered by the project, Ankr launched an API service that lets dapps access a variety of different blockchains and cryptocurrencies without having to leave the Ankr ecosystem.