Ethereum staking is undergoing a significant expansion phase, featuring an unprecedented entry queue of approximately 4.1 million Ether (approximately $9.4 billion) waiting to participate in the validation process.
At the same time, the exit column is barely around 33,000 Ether (ETH). This corresponds to less than 1% compared to approximately 4.1 million ETH Waiting to enter. This difference highlights the significant predominance of users’ interest in blocking rather than withdrawing capital on the network.
The above data can be seen in the Validator Queue graph below.
The input row represents the amount of ether that has already been deposited and is waiting for its turn to be activated as a validator. It is important to note that with Ethereum, we enter into staking. it’s not soon– There is a daily activation limit to maintain network stability.
Due to these delays, the current wait times to become an Ethereum validator are: Maximum 71 days.
During this process, the amount of Ether waiting to be staked has skyrocketed since the end of December. As reported by Criptonoticias, this figure has grown from 1.4 million ETH registered on January 7 to the current level of over 4 million.. This means that That’s a growth rate of nearly 193%.
Currently there are around 36,600,000 ETH locked ($84.18 billion) With a consensus mechanism (proof of stake, PoS). A number representing 30% of the current supply, as shown in the following graph.
This significant imbalance between incoming and outgoing funds has arisen based on the specific situation that the amount of Ether blocked in the system is at a historically high level.
Why did it reach an all-time high?
Staking is a mechanism by which Ethereum users lock up their Ether coins as collateral to participate in transaction validation and network security. All of this is in exchange for compensation.
Factors driving staking include: Some technology markets and others. Among the technical things, updates are worth mentioning. Starting in May 2025 after the Pectra update, validators will be able to stake a total of 2,048 ETH. This is an increase compared to the previous maximum of 32 ETH per validator.
These changes allowed participants to not only increase the amount of coins they each had, but also to better manage their nodes.
Additionally, the growth of Ether in the entry queue can also be read against the price of ETH, which has fallen towards the $2,200 area as of this note. That level hindering sales and cornering many investors To seek profit through validation while waiting for recovery to sell later.
If the trend is in the opposite direction, something different will happen. As observed in October last year, at that time the exit queue amounted to 2.4 million ETH compared to the entry queue of 1.3 million ETH. That happened at a time when prices were near all-time highs at around $4,600. This is indicative of that time. A portion of the market chose to take profits and abandon positions.
It is also important to consider that many investors may see the increase in companies incorporating Ether into their coffers as a sign of confidence. For this reason, they consider it advantageous to participate in staking. We are speculating on future price increases.
