Ankr

Ankr is a Web3 infrastructure provider founded in 2018 that operates a global Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) delivering RPC endpoints, pre-indexed APIs, liquid staking, and blockchain scaling services across more than 70 chains — including Solana.

Core Mechanism

Ankr's foundation is its globally distributed node network. The company describes its infrastructure as spanning 30+ regions and 760,000 unique geo-locations served monthly, processing approximately 8 billion RPC requests per day. This bare-metal node fleet powers a tiered RPC service — from free public endpoints to premium and enterprise plans with higher rate limits, dedicated capacity, WebSockets, and gRPC access.

The public layer is rate-limited but free. Premium access operates on a credit model priced per method call rather than per raw request, which means high-volume or computationally expensive calls consume credits faster than lightweight lookups. Paid tiers unlock Advanced API — a set of pre-indexed, multi-chain query endpoints for NFTs, token balances, transactions, and DeFi data that return structured results without requiring developers to parse raw chain state themselves.

A newer product announced in mid-2026, Verifiable RPC (vRPC), extends the standard endpoint with cryptographic proofs attached to JSON-RPC responses, allowing clients to verify the authenticity of node-returned data without trusting Ankr as an intermediary.

Key Products and Features

Node API (RPC): Standard JSON-RPC and WebSocket access across 70+ chains. The platform advertises an average response time of 56ms and 99.99% uptime. Rate limits, burst capacity, and archival depth vary by plan.

Advanced API: Multi-chain, pre-indexed query layer for token data, NFT metadata, transaction history, and account queries — available across Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, BSC, and a selection of other chains.

Liquid Staking: A DeFi staking product where users deposit PoS assets and receive reward-bearing receipt tokens in return. Unlike rebase tokens, Ankr's liquid staking tokens accrue value rather than supply — one ankrETH, for example, is worth more ETH over time as staking rewards accumulate. Receipt tokens can be deployed in DeFi protocols for compounded yield.

AppChains / Scaling Services: End-to-end tooling for launching dedicated rollups and sidechains, including Bitcoin-secured infrastructure variants, under the Asphere brand.

ANKR Token Staking: The ANKR native token can be delegated through Ankr's own staking contracts to earn protocol rewards.

Solana Support

Ankr supports Solana as a first-class chain in its RPC fleet. Developers can access Solana mainnet and devnet through standard endpoint URLs using an API key. The platform documents support for 60+ Solana RPC methods including account queries, block methods, epoch data, transaction submission and simulation, token account lookups, and validator vote account information.

One documented limitation: Ankr's Solana nodes retain approximately the last 16 hours of transaction history (roughly 100 million ledger slots). Applications requiring older historical data need an archival provider or a block explorer. Liquid staking for SOL is not part of Ankr's current staking product lineup, which focuses on ETH, BNB, AVAX, FTM, POL, and DOT.

Security and Audit History

Ankr's staking contracts have been audited by multiple independent security firms. Published audit reports cover:

• ETH Liquid Staking: Beosin (November 2020, November 2022) and Salus (May 2023)
• BNB Liquid Staking: Beosin (April 2022), PeckShield (July 2022), and Veridise (February 2023)
• AVAX Liquid Staking: Beosin (July 2022)
• FTM and POL Liquid Staking: Beosin (March 2022, June 2022)
• ANKR Delegated Staking: Beosin (December 2022) and Veridise (February 2023)
• FLOW Liquid Staking: Halborn (August 2024)
• Ankr Bridge: Beosin (March 2022)

The most significant security event in Ankr's history was a December 2022 private key compromise affecting the aBNBc staking receipt token. An attacker exploited a privileged contract role to mint unauthorized aBNBc supply, causing significant harm. Ankr subsequently conducted a migration to the updated ankrBNB token model and implemented secure key management practices, including a partnership with Cubist to harden Ethereum staking key operations using CubeSigner.

The RPC infrastructure itself carries different risk characteristics from the staking products. Node service risks are primarily operational — outages, latency spikes, or incorrect data — rather than smart contract exploits.

Background

Ankr was founded in 2018 with a focus on making node access more accessible and affordable for Web3 developers. The company originally positioned itself around distributed cloud computing but pivoted to focus on blockchain infrastructure. It launched liquid staking products, the Advanced API product line, and AppChains as blockchain application development matured. In 2026, the company launched enterprise incentives including free request allocations to attract migration from competing providers, expanded chain support (including HyperEVM, Unichain, and Sui), and introduced LayerZero Decentralized Verifier Network (DVN) infrastructure.

Fit in the Solana Ecosystem

Ankr functions as an infrastructure-layer provider for Solana application developers — a source of reliable, scalable RPC access without the operational burden of running self-managed nodes. Its public endpoints lower the barrier for builders prototyping on Solana devnet, while premium tiers serve production applications requiring consistent throughput and lower latency. The breadth of the multi-chain API offering makes Ankr particularly relevant for developers building cross-chain applications that touch Solana alongside EVM networks.