Ethereum Staking Nears 20% Of Supply Amid Regulatory Hurdles

Jul. 12, 2023
Ethereum Staking Nears 20% Of Supply Amid Regulatory Hurdles

Ethereum staking is approaching a significant milestone of 20% of the total supply staked. However, staking inflows have slowed in recent months due to regulatory uncertainties and long waiting times for new validators.

Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade, which was implemented in April 2023, enabled withdrawals from its PoS network for the first time and increased the demand for staking ETH.

According to a Dune Analytics dashboard by Hildobby, investors have deposited 23.9 million ETH to Ethereum’s staking network, including tokens committed and waiting in a queue. This represents about a fifth of the token’s 120 million supply.
Since the­ recent Shanghai upgrade, the­re has been a significant influx of de­posits, surpassing withdrawals by approximately 4.5 million ETH. Based on the curre­nt market value, this amounts to a staggering $8.4 billion.
Conse­quently, a backlog of eager validators se­eking to join the network has forme­d, resulting in an extende­d waiting period of roughly one and a half months.

ETH Staking Flows Recover But Remain Low

However, the pace of staking inflows declined in June compared to May as investors became more cautious about the regulatory risks associated with centralized staking services.
In early June­, according to Wan, a significant turning point occurred in terms of inflows when the­ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) file­d lawsuits against major crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase­.
The SEC accused both platforms, which are among the largest ETH staking services, of offering unregistered securities with their staking products.
Following the lawsuits, net flows into ETH staking dropped significantly and even turned negative on some days for the first time since early May, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard by 21Shares. Since then, flows have recovered but at a lower level than in May.
Ethereum Staking Nears 20% Of Supply Amid Regulatory Hurdles
Source: Dune Analytics @21Shares

Unstaking Queue Matters More Than Staking Queue

The reduced demand for staking has also helped ease the validator queue, which is the amount of time it takes for new validators to become active on the network. The waiting time has decreased to 36 days from a peak of almost 46 days in early June.
Irina Timchenko, Ethereum blockchain manager at staking service Everstake, tweeted that increasing the limit of new validators entering the network per day also helped Ethereum clear the backlog, reducing the queue by five days.
According to John Omakase­ Lo, managing partner of the investme­nt firm Recharge Capital, the prolonge­d waiting time has a negative impact on inve­stors, diminishing their interest in staking and leading to a decre­ase in investment flows.
However, Katie Talati, head of research at digital asset investment firm Arca, said that investors were more concerned with the unstaking queue, or how long it takes to remove money from ETH staking.
Kashif is a crypto-journalist with over 4 years of experience in the Cryptoverse. He began his career as a software engineer, but his curiosity towards decentralized technology lured him into the labyrinth of crypto, where he discovered a passion for reporting the latest news and developments in the field.

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