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Ethereum Staking Reaches New Record With 19.3 Million ETH

Ethereum staking is booming after the Shapella update.

By Finst News
• 3 min read
Ethereum Staking Reaches New Record With 19.3 Million ETH

Ethereum staking is booming after the Shapella update. What's driving the growth and which metrics are currently the most important to watch?

The predicted Ethereum sell-off has not happened. Instead, ETH staking has hit a new milestone. There are now more than 19.3 million Ethereum ‘staked’ in the Ethereum staking contract. This development clearly shows that many investors are putting more trust in Ethereum thanks to the successful Shanghai/Shapella upgrade. But this isn’t the only positive stat around ETH staking. Below are several other interesting figures, and we’ll break down what they mean for Ethereum.

SEC Encourages Staking

An analysis from Nansen, a crypto analytics firm, shows that Kraken and Coinbase together hold 870,688 ETH and currently account for 78.3% of all mainnet withdrawals from staked Ether. Nansen defines main withdrawals as all withdrawals made by active validators on the Ethereum 2.0 network. These withdrawals occur when validators want to reduce or end their staking positions and withdraw their staked ETH and earned rewards.

The vast majority of all staking withdrawals, 64.1%, come from the crypto exchange Kraken. This is because the SEC has ordered the exchange to stop its staking service under the threat of legal action. The move by SEC chief Gary Gensler shows here his lingering influence.

The development, however, suggests that many Kraken users are still interested in the staking service. It’s likely they will stake their ETH again on other platforms or via private wallets after withdrawing their ETH.

On-chain data shows this trend is already underway. Decentralized staking providers have been attracting new users in recent days, as shown by Nansen’s data.

ethers staked growing shapella

This development indicates that customers of centralized exchanges are moving their Ether to alternatives like Lido, Rocket Pool, Frax Finance, or other decentralized options.

Conclusion

Reaching a new high of 19.3 million staked Ethereum signals growing investor confidence in the Ethereum ecosystem after the successful Shapella upgrade. Despite hurdles, the SEC’s case against Kraken, interest in Ethereum staking remains strong. The fact that more and more investors are committing ETH and that net ETH deposits currently exceed withdrawals shows ongoing investor confidence.

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