Staking ETH had first begun on the Ethereum network about two years ago when the move to proof of stake was officially put in motion. Since then, the amount of ETH staked on the network has ramped up. By 2021, the total staked ETH on the Ethereum network had surpassed 5% of the total circulating supply. Despite growing so much already, it is nothing compared to the growth that has been experienced by the network in the last year.
Staked ETH Doubles
The amount of staked ETH on the Ethereum network is up more than 100% on a year-over-year basis. Staking now accounts for more than 13.4 million of all ETH, making up more than 11% of the total supply. This growth comes despite the fact that staking can be risky, but with the team moving as scheduled, it has imbued renewed interest in users.
There were some rumors regarding how all of the staked ETH would be dumped into the market. However, it has been clarified that there will be no withdrawal option available with the Merge that is scheduled to happen in September. Rather, there will be a period of 6-12 months before the capability will be introduced. But even this remains uncertain as there is no definite timeline for when withdrawals are implemented.
Staked ETH doubles in one year | Source: Arcane Research
With the rising interest, the yield on staking ETH has dropped drastically to about 4%, and it is expected that the yield will continue to drop as more validators are created. This yield remains the biggest pull for stakers as it provides a means to passively earn ETH while waiting out the market.
Ethereum Validators May Surge
Presently, there are hundreds of thousands of validators already on the Ethereum network, but the vast majority of ETH remains unstaked. This means that there is still a lot of growth to be expected in terms of staked ETH, and a recent Glassnode report points to this.
ETH trending at $1,554 | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com
The report shows that the number of addresses holding more than 32 coins has reached a new all-time high. This is important because a total of 32 ETH is required to become a validator on the Ethereum network and earn rewards for helping confirm transactions on the network. So this means that there are more users who are qualified to be validators.
An interesting fact is that Ethereum’s price is down about 51% on a year-over-year basis, but the digital asset has managed to retain most of the gains it made off the back of the Merge announcement. ETH’s price currently sits at $1,595, with a 24-hour growth of 0.75%.
Featured image from The Coin Republic, charts from Arcane Research and TradingView.com
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