Ether staking deposits hit $85B, 25% of circulating supply now locked
The total amount of Ether staked in the Beacon Chain is 30,206,801 ETH, amounting to more than $85 billion. There are currently 943,974 active validators on the Beacon chain.
Between February 1 and February 15, investors deposited another 600,000 ETH into Ethereum 2.0 stock contracts. In February, the price of ETH rose above $2,800 to a new yearly high. It is currently trading at $2,774.
A quarter of the circulating supply locked in proof of proof (PoS) contracts is a significant milestone for the Ethereum network. An increase in the amount of ETH held adds to the security and efficiency of the network. It has reduced the supply of ETH available for trading on exchanges, leading to a decrease in supply at a time when demand is growing.
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Beacon Chain introduced PoS to the Ethereum ecosystem. In September 2022, it joined the first Ethereum proof-of-concept (PoW) chain, allowing validators to hold ETH. Currently, ETH stakeholders receive an annual reward rate of 4 percent.
The Ethereum PoS network is run by a group of validators who have to include 32 ETH in the smart contract. The Beacon Chain started with 21,063 validators and currently has over 900,000 validators.
After the Shanghai update in April 2023, validators may withdraw their held ETH. Many critics were skeptical and believed there would be a strong demand for exits from the affirmative. However, within a week of the Shanghai update, the number of ETH in stake exceeded the number of spenders, indicating that validators are once again raising their ETH for decent earnings.
The price of ETH has made significant strides in the past few weeks, seeing double-digit gains and the $3,000 mark. With Spot Bitcoin ETFs now approved, all eyes are on spot ETH ETFs and they will also receive Securities and Exchange Commission approval. Spot ETFs could be a significant boost to the second-largest cryptocurrency as they could generate more institutional interest amid shrinking market supply due to stocks.
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