Running an Anchor SSV Operator Node

What is an SSV Operator

An SSV operator is a node that holds shares of validators' keys and participates in committees to perform Ethereum validation duties. The SSV network enables distributed validation where multiple operators collectively validate without any single operator having access to the complete validator key.

Step 1: Generate RSA keys

Anchor includes a key generation tool to create the RSA keys needed for operator identity:

# Generate unencrypted keys (for development)
anchor keygen

# Generate encrypted keys (recommended for production)
anchor keygen --password "your-secure-password" --output-path /path/to/keys/directory

This will generate:

  • A key.pem file containing your private key
  • The public key output in the console (for un-encrypted keys, also available in keys.json)

Save your public key and as you'll need it for onchain registration.

Step 2: Register as an Operator on the SSV Network

To register an operator, follow the instructions for the official ssv docs

Step 3: Configure and run your Anchor node

Create a directory for anchor related data and move the generated key.pem into the directory

mkdir -p ~/.anchor

mv key.pem ~/.anchor

Reference the cli or use --help to launch the node

anchor node \
  --network mainnet \
  --datadir ~/.anchor \
  --beacon-nodes http://localhost:5052 \
  --execution-rpc http://localhost:8545 \
  --execution-ws ws://localhost:8546 \
  --metrics \
  --rsa-key-password "your-password"