Ethereum has a 25-day wait to start staking, with nearly 1.5 million ETH in line
CoinDesk 2026-10-05 06:40:29
Context: The Ethereum network is experiencing a significant surge in validators seeking to exit the staking process, with over 786,000 ETH, valued at over $2 billion, waiting to exit as of Monday, and an estimated wait of nearly 14 days. This increase was triggered by MetaMask, a popular cryptocurrency wallet, pulling validators following a security incident on September 30. The incident led to a substantial rise in exit requests, causing the exit queue to reach its longest of 2026.
Key Facts
- Approximately 851,000 ETH, representing about 2% of the 43.6 million ETH staked, was waiting to exit on October 2, after surging more than fivefold in three days.
- About 786,000 ETH, worth just over $2 billion, was still waiting to exit as of Monday Asian morning, with an estimated wait of nearly 14 days.
- The Ethereum network limits validators to 57,600 ETH entering and exiting each day, causing large moves to build up as queues.
- Nearly 1.5 million ETH, worth roughly $4 billion, was waiting to enter the staking process on Monday, with an estimated wait of roughly 25 days.