Summary
This update shares the results of a two-month performance evaluation of the Anchor SSV client (built by Sigma Prime) on the Hoodi testnet. Based on strong performance results, it is suggested that Anchor can be used by operators in mainnet SSV clusters within the Simple DVT Module, as well as the Curated Module (assuming Node Operators run a testing environment on Hoodi).
Background
Anchor is an independent, Rust-based implementation of the SSV protocol, developed by Sigma Prime on the foundations of their Lighthouse Ethereum consensus client. It is the second SSV client, introduced to bring multi-client diversity to the SSV network.
Anchor’s continued development is backed by a long-term commitment from the SSV DAO under DIP-56: a two-year agreement between the SSV Foundation and Sigma Prime providing $2.5M for continued maintenance and strategic development of Anchor through 2026–2027, covering protocol upgrades, feature work, and community support. This support ensures that Anchor is not a one-off grant-funded release but a supported, actively maintained second client, with a dedicated Sigma Prime team responsible for keeping it stable and feature-complete. Anchor has also undergone a security audit by a third-party firm, with the findings published by Sigma Prime. SSV-based setups currently power more than 18% of the Ethereum validator set (per Rated Network), so improving resilience at the SSV client layer directly strengthens the fault tolerance of the Lido validator set across the Simple DVT and Curated Modules.
Performance Data
The performance monitoring period ran from February 1 to March 31, 2026, across two Lido x SSV clusters on Hoodi: Dauntless Diplodocus (mixed: Anchor + SSV Labs Go client, 96 validators) and Mighty Megalosaurus (fully Anchor, 98 validators), totalling 194 validators.
During this time, the fully-Anchor Mighty Megalosaurus cluster averaged 99.96% uptime, 83.62% attester effectiveness, and a 100% block proposal success rate (32/32). The mixed Dauntless Diplodocus cluster averaged 96.54% uptime, 78.42% attester effectiveness, and also achieved a 100% block proposal success rate (20/20). Both clusters comfortably exceeded the Hoodi 30-day network average attester effectiveness of 73.75%.
These results are reinforced by Anchor’s mainnet track record to date, all verifiable by validator index on beaconcha.in. Sigma Prime runs four of its own SSV operators on mainnet as a production-grade test of Anchor (operators 2042–2045, covering 10 validators in total), and these have a 99.90% mean lifetime BeaconScore, with 9 of the 10 validators at a perfect 100.00%. Beyond Sigma Prime’s own setup, SSV operator 688 has also been running Anchor on mainnet across 20 validators, with a 99.75% mean lifetime BeaconScore and 14 of those 20 validators at a perfect 100.00%.
Conclusion
Given these results, Anchor can be considered a viable client option on mainnet for SSV-based setups within Lido, alongside the existing SSV Labs Go client. For Simple DVT clusters, operators interested in switching to Anchor should coordinate with Simple DVT coordinators as part of any client change and flag it within their cluster thread. For the Curated Module, the same recommendation applies, with the additional expectation that node operators first validate Anchor in their own Hoodi testing environment before running it on mainnet, and coordinate the change with the Lido NOM team in advance.