Ethereum’s staking dynamics shifted sharply this week as validator exits dried up and fresh capital flowed back into long-term lockups, signaling a notable change in market behavior among large ether holders.
Key Takeaways:
- Ethereum’s exit queue has fallen to zero, easing near-term validator selling pressure.
- Staking demand rebounded, with 1.3 million ETH now waiting to enter the network.
- Institutional players and staking ETFs are reinforcing the shift toward long-term lockups.
The network’s validator exit queue dropped to zero ETH early Tuesday, according to the blockchain explorer Ethereum Validator Queue.
That marks a steep decline from its mid-September peak of roughly 2.67 million ETH, when withdrawal wait times stretched for days.
Ethereum Exit Pressure Fades as 1.3M ETH Queues for Staking
With the queue now empty, exit delays are measured in minutes rather than hours, removing a key source of near-term selling pressure from the market.
At the same time, demand for staking has climbed. The entry queue has grown to 1.3 million ETH, the highest level seen since mid-November.
The increase points to renewed willingness among investors to commit ether to staking rather than pulling funds from the network, a shift often interpreted as growing confidence in longer-term yield conditions.
Historically, prolonged exit queues have coincided with periods of stress, changing yield expectations, or broader market uncertainty.
By contrast, an empty exit queue is commonly viewed as a sign that potential validator-driven selling has largely been absorbed, leaving the network in a more stable position.
Institutional activity appears to be playing a central role in the latest shift. Large holders have increasingly opted to stake portions of their ether, adding weight to the entry queue.
Ethereum validator exit queue falls near zero for the first time since July!
Dropping to just 32 ETH as staking demand surges.
Bullish. pic.twitter.com/ffyLmKsZmW
— Crypto Crib (@Crypto_Crib_) January 6, 2026
BitMine, the world’s largest Ethereum treasury firm, began staking on Dec. 26 and added 82,560 ETH to the queue on Jan. 3, according to Arkham Intelligence.
The company now has about 659,219 ETH staked, valued near $2.1 billion, out of total holdings exceeding 4.1 million ETH, or roughly 3.4% of the circulating supply.
Momentum has also been reinforced by developments in regulated investment products. On Jan. 5, Grayscale’s Ethereum Staking ETF became the first US spot Ethereum ETF to distribute staking rewards.
The fund paid $0.083178 per share to eligible holders, reflecting rewards earned between early October and the end of December, with shares trading ex-dividend the following day.
Ethereum Staking Dominated by Lido as Network Nears 1M Validators
The Ethereum network currently supports just over 975,000 active validators securing 35.67 million ETH. Lido DAO remains the largest staking provider with 22.08% of staked ether, followed by Binance, Ether.fi, Coinbase, and Figment.
Ether’s spot price rose nearly 2% over the past 24 hours to around $3,220, though it remains about 34% below its August record high.
Meanwhile, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says the network has solved the blockchain trilemma, crossing a milestone many in crypto long viewed as unattainable.
In a post on X on Saturday, Buterin argued that recent and upcoming upgrades have finally aligned decentralization, security, and scalability through code already running in production.
At the center of the claim are two technical advances, including peer data availability sampling (PeerDAS) and zero-knowledge Ethereum virtual machines (zkEVMs).
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