Renowned decentralized finance (DeFi) company Ankr sat down with Crypto Daily to give us a breakdown of its revolutionary Liquid Staking feature and to discuss retaking on the EigenLayer.
Crypto Daily is fortunate to have interviewed Tiago Pratas, DeFi lead at Ankr. Pratas has given us access to the nuances of Ankr’s groundbreaking Liquid Staking protocol and to discuss EigenLayer’s Ethereum restaking and safety features.
Give Us A Quick Breakdown Of Ankr As A DeFi Infrastructure.
“Ankr is a prominent DeFi infrastructure company dedicated to making the decentralized world more accessible and user-friendly. We achieve this by providing a comprehensive Web3 infrastructure platform that caters to developers, enterprises, and end-users. Ankr’s suite of services includes node hosting, staking, and developer-focused offerings such as RPC nodes and app chains. Our services are designed to be cost-effective, scalable, and secure, making it easier for developers to build decentralized applications (DApps) and for end-users to access and interact with the DeFi ecosystem. You probably already used some of our services without even knowing, and we partner with major DeFi projects like Aave, 1inch, SushiSwap, and several major L1’s.”
“Liquid Staking is a groundbreaking concept in the blockchain and DeFi space. Traditional staking involves locking up your assets in a smart contract to secure a network and earn staking rewards. However, this process renders your assets illiquid, meaning you can’t readily use or trade them.
Liquid Staking, on the other hand, provides a more flexible approach. When you stake your assets, you receive a token representing your staked assets, such as ankrETH. These tokens are tradable and can be used in various DeFi protocols, from providing liquidity to collateral for loans. The revolutionary aspect of Liquid Staking is that it combines the benefits of staking, such as earning the staking rewards while participating and boosting Ethereum network security, with the advantages being more capital efficient, more flexible for stakers, and easier to participate in the validation process of Ethereum and get access to the “risk-free rate” in the form of staking rewards.”
How Can Users Go About Liquid Staking Through Ankr?
“Liquid Staking through Ankr is a straightforward process. Users can visit Ankr’s Liquid Staking Platform, select the assets they want to stake, connect their cryptocurrency wallet, and select the amount and stake! In return, users will receive Liquid Staking Tokens such as ankrETH,ankrBNB, etc., which represent their staked assets. These tokens can be used across DeFi platforms, providing liquidity and earning additional yields. The list of these DeFi opportunities can be found on our DeFi Dashboard.”
Users Are Rewarded In AnkrETH. What Does AnkrETH Represent, And How Is Its Value Determined?
“ankrETH represents the Ethereum deposited on the Validators with all the staking rewards that it has accrued. Therefore, ankrETH is a reward-bearing token, meaning that the fair value of 1 ankrETH token vs. ETH increases over time as staking rewards accumulate. Therefore, its market price is always tied to the amount of Ethereum you can redeem each ankrETH and the Ethereum price.”
What Benefits Does Holding AnkrETH Offer The User?
How Will Ankr Utilize EigenLayer’s Restaking Platform?
“We love innovation and pay close attention to all the new things are happening in the market, especially when it comes to Liquid Staking! So far Ankr has proposed the EigenLayer DAO to list ankrEtH, but we also are playing close attention to the liquid staking protocols that are being built on top.”
What Are Ankr’s Plans For The Future? Can We Expect Exciting And Innovative Strategies To Improve The DeFi Sector Soon?
Tiago Pratas is a seasoned cryptocurrency professional with expertise in blockchain and DeFi. As the DeFi Lead at Ankr, he’s played a key role in increasing TVL from $65 million to over $180 million. With a strong crypto trading and research background, Tiago is an expert in blockchain technology, DeFi strategies, and the broader crypto ecosystem.
