The total amount of Ether staked in the Beacon Chain has reached 30,206,801 ETH, valued at over $85 billion, accounting for nearly 25% of the total circulating supply. Currently, there are 943,974 validators active on the Beacon Chain.
February has proven to be a bullish month for the Ethereum network. From the 1st to the 15th of February, investors have deposited 600,000 Ether (ETH) into Ethereum 2.0 staking contracts. This month also witnessed ETH prices skyrocketing to yearly highs above $2,800, with Ether trading at $2,791 at the time of writing.
Locking up a quarter of ETH’s circulating supply in proof-of-stake (PoS) contracts is seen as a bullish sign for the Ethereum network. The increase in staked ETH enhances the network’s security and efficiency while reducing the available ETH supply for trading on exchanges, leading to a decreased supply amid increasing demand.
The introduction of PoS through the Beacon Chain to the Ethereum ecosystem upon its merge with the original Ethereum proof-of-work (PoW) chain in September 2022 allowed validators to stake ETH. Currently, stakers receive an annual reward rate of 4%.
The Ethereum PoS network is governed by a group of validators who must stake 32 ETH. While the Beacon Chain started with 21,063 validators, there are now over 900,000 validators.
Following the Shanghai upgrade in April 2023, validators can withdraw their staked ETH, with some critics anticipating high withdrawal demands. However, within a week of the Shanghai upgrade, the amount of staked ETH exceeded the withdrawn amount, indicating that validators are restaking their ETH to earn passive income.
ETH prices have surged over the past few weeks, reaching triple-digit increases and aiming for the $3,000 mark. With Bitcoin spot ETFs now approved in the US, attention is shifting towards Ether spot ETFs, and whether the SEC will approve them.