Big News From Ankr: New Protocol, Token Use Cases, and $10 Million Grant!
Just a few weeks ago, Ankr launched its first completely free and public RPC with the Fantom network. We are proud to announce that on Thursday, October 28th, we released an entire platform of public endpoints that any blockchain developer or project can access to interface with chains like Polygon, Avalanche, Binance, Solana, Ethereum, and more. Our public endpoints are incredibly easy to use, with no signups, logins, email, or any other info needed — just copy, paste, go!
Check out our new landing page here: https://www.ankr.com/ankr-protocol/
TL;DR: The main benefits for developers and ANKR token holders
- The ANKR Token — $ANKR will now be used as an exclusive payment method for premium developer features on the protocol, as an incentive for independent node operators to serve Remote Procedure Call (RPC) traffic, as a token to govern the upcoming Ankr DAO, and as a payment method to audit node behavior. The ANKR token now has an entire new roadmap to boost token utility and the metrics that drive token value.
- Multi-Chain Building & Streamlined DApp Creation — The Ankr Protocol offers an extremely simple and efficient way to build new DApps with a plug-and-play public RPC as well as the ability to opt into premium features with a deposit of ANKR tokens. This all means faster and easier building and product releases for Web 3.0 developers.
- Independent Node Providers — We will soon allow independent node providers to contribute nodes to the protocol and earn ANKR for serving request calls to blockchains. Having node operators in every corner of the world means the lowest possible latency and much higher levels of reliability and decentralization.
Ankr $10 Million Grant Funding New Projects
We aren’t sure what developers will do with these new powers, but we are incredibly curious to find out. For that reason, Ankr is launching a $10 million grant to boost promising new projects and developers who apply for funding. We envision that this will accelerate development and tear down barriers to entry across the board.
The Ankr Protocol is a big step forward, not only for the Ankr project but for blockchain as a whole. Developers and products will receive smarter, faster, and much more reliable access to the blockchain by utilizing the protocol. This is sure to change the way on-chain information is accessed, as Ankr Protocol will serve as a decentralized gateway to ever-greater numbers of requests (already 2 billion per day) to satisfy more of the world’s blockchain traffic.
What is The Ankr Protocol?
The Ankr Protocol is our newest multi-product launch that includes our public RPC layer, blockchain analytics, staking solutions, and developer tools all powered by our decentralized global network of nodes. The protocol also defines incentives for providers to connect their nodes with our network to serve traffic and earn ANKR tokens. In effect, this creates a self-sustaining and mutually beneficial crypto economy — providers have the nodes, stakers bring the funds, and developers get instant access to blockchain data to build the projects users want.
- A Public RPC Layer: Your Plug-and-Play Solution — Think of RPCs as relays that allow developers to make calls and run instructions transparently and remotely from one computer on a network to another. With the Ankr Public RPC, developers can make calls to a cluster of nodes for requests to the blockchain and even add the endpoint to their MetaMask in one click.
- Access to a Global Network of Nodes — Nodes can be extremely temperamental and prone to disruptions in service. They are also prohibitively expensive for the average user to deploy and operate. Ankr facilitates a robust supply of nodes to power the Ankr Public RPC, incentivizes independent node providers with ANKR tokens for the blockchain requests they serve, and employs a loan balancer to automatically distribute incoming traffic across these public nodes.
- Decentralized Web Services — We believe that the crypto economy will be served best by self-funded communities and DAOs, not service providers going down the same centralized path of the past. With Ankr Protocol, requests to blockchains will ultimately be served by a distributed global network of independent node providers, creating a community-driven network of node operators, developers and stakers incentivized to work together to create and provide multi-chain systems, products and services.
How Does It Work?
- Node owners will be able to opt their node into the Ankr Protocol to help serve traffic (request calls) to blockchain information in exchange for ANKR tokens.
- Ankr verifies and registers the nodes to include them in the network.
- Blockchain consumers (developers & products) use the protocol/RPC as a public and free service, or they may opt into the premium plan for prioritized requests and other benefits for 10k ANKR per year.
- Ankr Protocol automatically distributes the incoming traffic across multiple nodes to provide the most efficient and reliable response possible by dynamically reducing latency and rerouting any traffic from faulty nodes.
What Does It Mean for Users?
- Consumers, developers, and other stakeholders get fast, free, open, and stable access to the blockchain of their choice through an open, decentralized protocol.
- Node operators are rewarded with ANKR tokens when their nodes serve consumer traffic through the protocol.
- A broad range of Ankr stakeholders will be incentivized to contribute to the growth of the protocol through the Ankr Grants program and Ankr DAO governance.
What Does It Mean for ANKR Token Holders?
- Ankr token holders will be excited to learn of the significant boost to the utility of ANKR token with the rollout of Ankr Protocol due to the subscription model it employs and use of ANKR token as the exclusive payment method for premium features.
- ANKR will be used as an incentive and insurance policy for node providers.
- ANKR will be used in the governance of the upcoming Ankr DAO.
- In the future, ANKR token holders will have the option to delegate ANKR tokens to nodes serving traffic in the RPC.
Independent Node Operators
At Ankr, we believe the crypto economy needs a decentralized and trustless network where individual operators are incentivized to support blockchain networks and build better products. Accordingly, any project or person will be able to run their node with the Ankr Protocol to earn ANKR tokens for the requests they serve. By incentivizing participation by a distributed network of node providers, Ankr Protocol creates a community of nodes that will power multi-chain development and liquid staking, which can create a flywheel of incentives that result in exponential growth to the blockchain space as a whole. This network of nodes also facilitates the Public RPC, enabling developers to build open-source DApps like MetaMask that require interactivity with blockchain data and the ability to execute tasks for DeFi like crypto wallet transactions.
Ankr Premium
Ankr Premium is the paid version of Ankr Protocol that gives developers access to the fastest and most reliable RPC experience possible at a cost of 10,000 ANKR tokens annually. With access to exclusive endpoints, prioritized requests, and WSS (WebSockets) endpoints, builders utilizing Ankr Premium will have the most power to build new DApps and projects with incredibly stable and reliable performance.
- Exclusive Endpoints — Having an exclusive endpoint for traffic means the fastest and most reliable possible experience for blockchain projects. This means you will have dedicated node resources that are reserved only for requests coming from your projects.
- Prioritized Requests — During high traffic times, Premium users will have top priority for having requests served. This can be the best move for projects who already have higher volumes of transactions.
- WebSockets (WSS) — WebSockets enable a constant flow of information between blockchain nodes and applications, creating a smoother experience to keep the gateway open and “listen” to receive data and get information from point A to point B faster.
Whatever your development use-case, consider harnessing the power of the Ankr Protocol for the fastest, most decentralized, and most reliable RPC layer in existence. We hope this helps clarify what the Protocol is, why it is so significant, and also what it means for the ANKR token itself! There will be more announcements and news on the way soon.
About Ankr
Ankr is an all-in-one portal built to support the growth of Web 3.0. We provide multi-chain DApp development tools, crypto staking solutions, and our decentralized global node infrastructure that powers it all over a growing number of chains. Our Ankr Protocol, RPC, and API tools create publicly available and incredibly scalable solutions to help DeFi developers and users keep up with an industry undergoing exponential growth. The ANKR utility token is tradeable on Coinbase, Gemini, and more. Join us at Ankr.com in paving the way for the open internet of the future.
