Binance Labs Invests in Ankr Protocol

Ankr is a decentralized infrastructure and cross-chain staking DeFi platform that aims to make Web3 accessible for everyone. The protocol was launched in 2017 and currently runs on around 18 decentralized chains.

This protocol has already supported BNB Chain, provided DeFi matching capabilities for BNB Liquid Staking, and built several core infrastructures, including the Erigon upgrade.

Ankr has received a strategic investment from Binance Labs

According to a press release, the Ankr protocol has received a strategic investment from Binance Labs, the venture capital arm and innovation incubator of Binance. Binance Labs has confirmed this investment, however the specifics of the total investment amount have not yet been disclosed.

Welcome @ankr to the #Binance Labs Family!

ICYMI — Ankr is a decentralized infrastructure and cross-chain staking DeFi platform that aims to make Web3 accessible for everyone.https://t.co/hvtYv43xGJ

— Binance Labs Fund (@BinanceLabs) August 11, 2022

The proceeds from the project will be used to upgrade the RPC service while also building the Web3 development suite, including Liquid Staking DK, Web3 Gaming SDK, and the application chain as a service. According to the release, the protocol is receiving more than seven billion blockchain access requests per day across 18 different blockchains for which the protocol stores RPC. Ryan Fang, the Chief Operating Office at Ankr, said:

“We are very excited to count Binance Labs as a strategic investor. BNB Chain is by far the chain with the highest number of daily transactions and active users. We are commited to support BNB Chain further scale, enhance BNB token utility by enabling DeFi composability using BNB Liquid Staking, and expand Binance Application Sidechain (BAS) ecosystem to enable innovative use cases requiring a highly scalable infrastructure, and other innovative infrastrcture services opening the gates to permissioned sidechains.”

Binance Labs Raises $500 Million from Web3 Fund

Binance has also benefited from Ankr’s growth. The protocol implemented open source allocation for the BNB chain and helped build BNB liquid staking. Furthermore, upgrades of Erigon and Archive Node have aided in strengthening the BNB ecosystem. The investment in Ankr aims to support the protocol’s RPC management service, a solution that scales nodes globally to provide efficient algorithmic power.

Binance Labs has launched a new board of directors, co-founder Yi He was appointed as the new director of Labs after the resignation of former head Bill Qian. Binance Labs has raised $500 million in investment funds to encourage innovation and drive growth throughout the Web3 and blockchain ecosystems. The world’s leading exchange has also announced a €100 million fund for French crypto startups.

Ankr token staking is already active

Binance’s investment in Ankr comes days after the protocol announced to allow token staking on the infrastructure. After the news of Binance Labs’ strategic investment, the price of Ankr tokens increased by 41.73%.

Protocol holders have ability to stake their tokens to support nodes and earn rewards. CryptoPotato has reported on how rewards are distributed here. At the time, Greg Gompan, Chief Marketing Office at Ankr, said:

“Today marks a monumental achievement for Ankr. One where we have moved from a centralized infrastructure provider to a truly decentralized protocol solution, where token holders can contribute and earn across the network with us. This puts Ankr in a class of its own, as not only one of the best technology companies in the industry but one of the best pure plays for aligning with multichain growth across Web3.”